Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis)

Section E 36: Goods transport, Air transport

Federal Statistical Office of Germany

Postal adress: 65180 Wiesbaden, Germany

Local adress: Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 11, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany

The main objective of this statistics is to provide data on the carriage of passengers, freight and mail by commercial air services as well as on civil aircraft movements to or from Community airports, except for flights by State aircraft.

Based on European legal bases results are transmitted to the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat) in the form of aggregated monthly data. The survey includes all flights with passenger, freight and mail as well as empty leg flights in domestic and international traffic where the take-off or landing airport is located in Germany. The statistics are compiled and transmitted to Eurostat by Destatis. The data collection follows the provisions of the following legal acts:

EU:

Regulation (EC) N°1358/2003, implementing Regulation N°437/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council

National:

Verkehrsstatistikgesetz (VerkStatG) in der Fassung der Bekanntmachung vom 20. Februar 2004 (BGBl. I S. 318), zuletzt geändert durch Artikel 8 des Gesetzes vom 24. Mai 2016 (BGBl. I S. 1217) in Verbindung mit dem Bundesstatistikgesetz (BStatG) in der Fassung der Bekanntmachung vom 20. Oktober 2016 (BGBl. I S. 2394).

Verkehrsstatistikgesetz in der Fassung der Bekanntmachung vom 20. Februar 2004 (BGBl. I S. 318), das zuletzt durch Artikel 1 des Gesetzes vom 16. August 2023 (BGBl. 2023 I Nr. 218) geändert worden ist

Three datasets required by the EU-Regulation are provided to Eurostat: the Flight Stage dataset, called A1, the On Flight Origin/Destination dataset, called B1 and the Airport dataset, called C1.

• A1: This dataset contains periodic flight stage data registered for airport-to-airport routes, and broken down by arrivals/departures, scheduled/non-scheduled, passenger service/all-freight and mail service, airline information and aircraft type. The values provided concern passengers on board, freight and mail on board, commercial air flights as well as passenger seats available. Since the reference year 2004, data have to be provided on monthly basis.
• B1: This dataset contains periodic on flight origin/destination data registered for airport-to-airport routes, and broken down by arrivals/departures, scheduled/non-scheduled, passenger service/all-freight and mail service and airline information. The values provided concern passengers carried and freight and mail loaded or unloaded. Since the reference year 2004, data have to be provided on monthly basis.
• C1: This dataset contains periodic airport data registered for declaring airports, and broken down by airline information. The values provided concern total passengers carried, total direct transit passengers, total freight and mail loaded or unloaded, total commercial aircraft movements and aircraft movements. This dataset must contain at least annual data.

 The underlying population for datatsets A1 and B1 are airports with at least 150.000 passenger units (pax). Dataset C1 include all airports with at least 15.000 pax.

• Country code: Countries are coded using a 2-letter codes corresponding to the concatenation of the ICAO Aeronautical fixed service area codes (first digit), ICAO country identifier codes (second digit). The updated list of the country codes to be used is provided in Annex VIII of the Reference Manual on Air Transport Statistics.
• Airport code: Airports are classified according to ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) airport codes as listed in ICAO document 7910. 
• Aircraft code: Aircrafts are classified according to aggregated aircraft categories based on the ICAO aircraft codes as listed in ICAO document 8643. Information on aircraft type has only to be provided in the table A1 of Regulation N° 437/2003. Aircraft information has to be coded following the 4-letter of the ICAO aircraft type designators as listed in the ICAO Document 8643. The type of aircraft dictionary is updated by ICAO annually, for new types of aircraft.
• Airline code: Airlines are classified according to the ICAO airline codes as listed in the ICAO document 8585. When providing the data to Eurostat, the region where they are licensed is coded accordingly either as European Union (EU) or outside the European Union (non-EU).

The data include commercial and civil air traffic at the major German airports (more than 15,000 passenger units per year).

The main concepts used in this domain are the following:

• Aircraft: Any machine that can derive support in the atmosphere from the reactions of the air other than the reactions of air against the earth’s surface. Dirigibles and surface effect vehicles such as hovercraft are excluded.
• Aircraft movement: An aircraft take-off or landing at an airport. For airport traffic purposes one arrival and one departure is counted as two movements. Included are all commercial aircraft movements and non-commercial general aviation operations. Excluded are State flights, touch and goes, overshoots and unsuccessful approaches.
• Airline: An air transport undertaking with a valid operating licence for operating commercial air flights. Where airlines have joint-venture or other contractual arrangements requiring two or more of them to assume separate responsibility for the offer and sale of air transport products for a flight or combination of flights, the airline actually operating the flight shall be reported.
• Air Passenger: Any person, excluding on-duty members of the flight and cabin crews, who makes a journey by air. Infants in arms are included.
• All-freight and mail air service: Scheduled non-scheduled air service performed by aircraft carrying revenue loads other than revenue passengers, i.e. freight and mail.
• Commercial aircraft movement: An aircraft movement performed for remuneration or for hire. Includes commercial air service movements and commercial general aviation operations.
• Commercial air flight: An air transport flight performed for the public transport of passengers and/or freight and mail, for remuneration and for hire. In table A1, the commercial air flights are aggregated to calculate the other "indicator fields" ("Passengers on board", "Freight and Mail on board" and "Passenger seats available").
• Commercial air service: An air transport flight or series of flights for the public transport of passengers and/or freight and mail, for remuneration or for hire.
• Community airport: A defined area on land or water in a Member State subject to the provisions of the treaty, which is intended to be used either wholly or in part for the arrival, departure and surface movement of aircraft and open for commercial air services.
• Community airport covered: Commission Regulation 1358/2003 implementing Regulation (EC) N°437/2003 and the Commission Regulation (EC) N°546/2005 adapting Regulation (EC) N°437/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the allocation of reporting-country codes and amending Commission Regulation (EC) N°1358/2003 as regards the updating of the list of Community airports, specify the airport categories applied in order to define the list of community airports covered by the Regulation until the reference year 2005. The new Regulation (Commission Regulation (EC) N°158/2007 of 16 February 2007 amending Commission Regulation (EC) N°1358/2003 of 31 July 2003 as regards the list of Community airports specifies the airport categories applied in order to define the list of community airport covered by the Regulation for reference year 2007. The list of reporting airports per country is available in Annex VI.
• Direct transit passengers: Passengers who, after a short stop, continue their journey on the same aircraft on a flight having the same flight number as the flight on which they arrive. Passengers who change aircraft because of technical problems but continue on a flight with the same flight number are counted as direct transit passengers. On some flights with intermediate stops, the flight number changes at an airport to designate the change between an inbound and outbound flight. An example is a flight from Barcelona to Hamburg where the flight continues to Frankfurt before returning to Barcelona. Where passengers for an intermediate destination continue their journey on the same aircraft in such circumstances, they should be counted as direct transit passengers.
• Flight stage: The operation of an aircraft from take-off to its next landing. This is linked to the definition of passengers (or freight and mail) on board.
• Freight and mail loaded or unloaded: All freight and mail loaded onto or unloaded from an aircraft. Includes express services and diplomatic bags. Excludes passenger baggage. Excludes direct transit freight and mail.
• Freight and mail on board: All freight and mail on board of the aircraft upon landing at the reporting airport or at taking off from the reporting airport. All freight and mail on board an aircraft during a flight stage. Includes direct transit freight and mail (counted at arrivals and departures). Includes express services and diplomatic bags. Excludes passenger baggage. It is recommended to exclude the weight of containers in the freight data reported.
• Non-scheduled air service: A commercial air service other than scheduled air service.
• On flight origin and destination: Traffic on a commercial air service identified by a unique flight number subdivided by airport pairs in accordance with point of embarkation and point of disembarkation on that flight. For passengers, freight or mail where the airport of embarkation is not known, the aircraft origin should be deemed to be the point of embarkation; similarly, if the airport of disembarkation is not known, the aircraft destination should be deemed to be the point of disembarkation. Since an individual passenger's air journey may consist of more than one flight, a passenger's onflight origin and destination is not necessarily his true origin and destination. This is also the case, in a lower extent, for freight/mail consignments.
• Passenger air service: Scheduled or non-scheduled air service performed by aircraft carrying one or more revenue passengers and any flights listed in published timetables as open to passengers.
• Passengers carried: All passengers on a particular flight (with one flight number) counted once only and not repeatedly on each individual stage of that flight. All revenue and non-revenue passengers whose journey begins or terminates at the reporting airport and transfer passengers joining or leaving the flight at the reporting airport. Excludes direct transit passengers, includes transfer passengers.
• Passenger seats available: The total number of passenger seats available for sale on an aircraft operating a flight stage between a pair of airports. On a flight stage, the total number of revenue passengers should not exceed the total number of passenger seats available for sale. Includes seats which are already sold on a flight stage i.e. including those occupied by direct transit passengers. Excludes seats not actually available for the carriage of passengers because of maximum gross weight limitations. If information on this basis is not available, then one of the following estimates should be provided in order of preference (from more to less adequate):
• The specific aircraft configuration expressed in number of passenger seats available in the aircraft (identified by aircraft registration number),
• The average aircraft configuration expressed in average number of passenger seats available for the type of aircraft for the airline,
• The average aircraft configuration expressed in average number of passenger seats available for the type of aircraft.
• Passengers on board: All passengers on board of the aircraft upon landing at the reporting airport or at taking off from the reporting airport. All revenue and non-revenue passengers on board an aircraft during a flight stage. Includes direct transit passengers (counted at arrivals and departures).
• Passenger unit: One passenger unit is equivalent to either one passenger or 100 kilograms of freight and mail. For the purpose of drawing up the list of Community airports, the calculation of thresholds using "passenger units" has to take into account at Community airports, the total passengers carried plus the total direct transit passengers (counted once) plus the total freight and mail loaded and unloaded.
• Scheduled air service: A commercial air service operated according to a published timetable, or with such a regular frequency that it constitutes an easily recognisable systematic series of flights.
• State Flight: Any flight performed by aircraft for military, customs, police or other law enforcement services of a State. Any flight declared as a "State flight" by State authorities. The expression "except for flights by States aircraft" in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) N°437/2003 should be interpreted as "except for State flights".
• Total aircraft movements: All take-offs and landings by non-military aircraft. Includes aerial work flights, i.e. specialised commercial aviation operations which are performed by aircraft chiefly engaged in agriculture, construction, photography and surveying, as well as pilot training, business/executive flying and all other non-commercial flights. Includes total commercial aircraft movements as well as non-commercial general aviation operations. Excludes State Flights, excludes Touch and goes, overshoots and unsuccessful approaches.
• Total commercial aircraft movements: All take-offs and landings for flights performed for remuneration and for hire. Includes commercial air services as well as all commercial general aviation operations.
• Transfer of indirect transit passengers: Passengers arriving and departing on a different aircraft within 24 hours, or on the same aircraft bearing different flight numbers. They are counted twice: once upon arrival and once on departure.

The data are collected at individual airport level.

Four catagories of Community airports are defined by the Regulation (EC) N°1358/2003:

• Category "0": Airports with less than 15 000 passengers units per year are considered as having only "occasional commercial traffic" without obligation to report.
• Category "1": Airports with between 15 000 and less than 150 000 passengers per year shall transmit only aggregated airport data (data set C).
• Category "2": Airports with more than 150 000 and less than 1 500 000 passengers units per year, shall transmit flight stage data, on flight origin destination data as well as aggregated airport data (data sets A, B and C).
• Category "3": Airports with at least 1 500 000 passengers units per year, shall transmit flight stage data, on flight origin destination data as well as aggregated airport data (data sets A, B and C).

Airports under category ‘0’ are not included in the statistics provided to Eurostat.

Commercial airports located on the territory of Germany.

Data sets have been provided according to the legal act (with no derogations) starting from 2002 reference year. Partial information (annual aggregates on passenger transport only) is available starting from 1993 reference year. Similar data have been published by the NSI since 1951. Until 1991, the data cover the territory of the former Federal Republic of Germany. From 1991 onwards (aftre the reunion of Germany), results for the entire Federal Republic of Germany are published. Data for transfer passengers are provided annually as from 2013.

Not applicable.

The units used depend on the variables collected within each data set and are: number of passengers, kilogrammes (for freight and mail), number of aircraft movements and passenger seats available.

The weight of freight and mail is transmitted in tonnes rounded into full numbers.

Reference period is the calendar year respectively the months of the year.

National level:

•  Gesetz über die Statistik der See- und Binnenschifffahrt, des Güterkraftverkehrs, des Luftverkehrs sowie des Schienenverkehrs und des gewerblichen Straßen-Personenverkehrs (Verkehrsstatistikgesetz - VerkStatG).
•  Gesetz über die Statistik für Bundeszwecke (Bundesstatistikgesetz - BStatG).

European level: until 2002, the data were provided to Eurostat on a voluntary basis; since 2002 data provision is based on an EP and Council framework legal act and on several implementing Commission Regulations:

• Regulation (EC) N°437/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 February 2003 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of passengers, freight and mail by air.
• Regulation (EC) N°1358/2003 of 31/07/2003.
• Regulation N°546/2005 of 8 April 2005.
• Regulation N°158/2007 of 16 February 2007.

Not applicable.

National level:

• German Transport Act: Gesetz über die Statistik der See- und Binnenschifffahrt, des Güterkraftverkehrs, des Luftverkehrs sowie des Schienenverkehrs und des gewerblichen Straßen-Personenverkehrs (Verkehrsstatistikgesetz - VerkStatG).

Pursuant to Section 28 (1) of the German Transport Statistics Act, the Federal Statistical Office and the statistical offices of the federal states may transmit tables with statistical results from the surveys to the supreme federal or state authorities for use vis-à-vis the legislative bodies and for planning purposes, but not for the purpose of regulating individual cases, even to the extent that table fields only show one single case.

Pursuant to Section 29 (3) of the German Transport Statistics Act, the results of the survey may be published broken down by airports, even if they contain individual data if the name of the undertakings obliged to provide information is not published.

• Federal Statistic Law: Gesetz über die Statistik für Bundeszwecke (Bundesstatistikgesetz - BStatG).

The individual information collected is generally kept secret in accordance with Section 16 BStatG. Individual data may only be transmitted in exceptional cases expressly regulated by law or if the respondents have consented. The transmission of individual data is generally permissible:

• public authorities and institutions within the statistical network which are entrusted with the implementation of federal or European statistics (e.g. the statistical offices of the Länder, the Bundesbank, the Statistical Office of the European Union [Eurostat]),
• Service providers with whom a contractual relationship exists (e.g. ITZBund, data centres of the Länder).

Pursuant to Section 16 (6) BStatG, it is permissible for universities or other institutions with the task of carrying out independent scientific research to be granted the right to

• transmit individual data if the individual data are anonymised in such a way that they can only be attributed to the respondents or persons concerned with a disproportionate expenditure of time, cost and labour (de facto anonymised individual data),
• grant access to individual data without name and address (formally anonymised individual data) within specially secured areas of the Federal Statistical Office and the statistical offices of the Länder if effective precautions are taken to maintain confidentiality.

The obligation of confidentiality also applies to persons receiving individual data.

European level:

• Regulation (EC) N°223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20 (4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

The data provided to Eurostat in the data sets A1, B1 and C1 contain no confidential information.

The procedures with regard to statistical confidentiality follows the Handbook on Statistical Disclosure Control (2010) and the Federal Statistical Act.

Only the airline information data is subject to confidentiality. Before providing the data to Eurostat, the region where they are licensed is coded accordingly either as European Union (EU) or outside the European Union (non-EU).

The data provided to Eurostat in the data sets A1, B1 and C1 contain no confidential information.

The data output does not contain any confidentiality cases.

There is no publication of individual data.

Typically, monthly results of airports with more than 150,000 pax are published about 30 days after the end of the reporting period. For smaller airports, results are provided on an annual basis approximately 6.5 months after the end of the reporting period. Publication dates are not available in advance in the NSI’s publication calendar.

Not applicable.

Main results of commercial aviation statistics are available free of charge to all users.

More detailed results can be obtained with subscription.

More detailed user-specific data can be provided on request.

Data are also available via the analysis tool "FIPLAN".

The data on air transport statistics is made available to all users at the same time.

Air transport statistics are published monthly within 30 days after the end of the reporting period for major airports. Results for all German airports are published yearly approximately 6,5 months after the reporting period.

Press releases may be published for the half-year, the end of the summer flight schedule and for results of the year as a whole. In addition, there exist a number of additional press releases, which are related to special occasions. The press releases can be found on the website of the NSI.

Publications on air transport statistics are available on the NSI’s website (www.destatis.de). These comprise publications specifically on air traffic and on topics affecting all modes of transport.

Most results of the monthly statistics can be found in the “Genesis Online” database (GENESIS-Online Database; Tables No. 46421-0001 - 46421-0104). The results are available free of charge. Large tables can be retrieved by registered users only.

Not applicable to air transport statistics.

Not applicable to air transport statistics.

A Standard-documentation with Meta information (Definitions, comments, methods, quality) on Air Transport Statistics is available at national level.

A Standard-documentation with Meta information (Definitions, comments, methods, quality) on Air Transport Statistics is available at national level.

For more information, see 10.6.

The system follows as far as possible the European Statistics Code of practice and Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System.

Moreover Destatis has introduced standard quality reports to be produced and which are updated once a year. The reports are based on the ESS definition of quality in statistics and follow the European standard quality report and provide users with information about the underlying concepts, definitions, methods used and the quality of the statistics (meta-information) in a standardised format.

The "Quality Manual of the Federal and Länder Statistical Offices" defines our claim to provide statistics of demonstrably high quality. In addition, it also provides a practical orientation framework for specialised statisticians through the "Quality Guidelines for the Statistics Production Process". The quality guidelines describe concrete procedures that serve to ensure the high quality of statistical processes and products and whose implementation is binding for all subject areas. In addition, regular assessments of the implementation of the quality guidelines are carried out.

Data quality can be assessed as high. There is a set of validation rules and quality checks put in place, which detect various types of issues. In case of any issues detected, the data providers are contacted to provide explanations or/and revise the data accordingly. Mirror checks (for national transport) and checks for the consistency over times are prepared and revised as well and the results are compared with the data published by the airports at their website or the ADV (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Verkehrsflughäfen). Annually, Eurostat provides a data quality report with a summary of the main findings affecting quality as well as showing the solution adopted and the materiality of the existing differences. Mirror checks and checks for the consistency over times are prepared as well. In addition to the extensive plausibility checks, key factor of high quality is the nearly completely automatic data transmission by the airports via XML and the excellent cooperation with the relevant departments of the airports. In nearly all cases the data is transmitted on time. Revisions concern only a few flights.

The main users of the statistics include ministries (Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure), Federal authorities, scientific institutes, airports, airlines and associations or organisations of air traffic (e.g. Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Verkehrsflughäfen (ADV) and the Federal Association of German Airports) and the Air Transport Industry (Bundesverbands der Deutschen Luftverkehrswirtschaft (BDL)). The data are used by various institutions, for example, as a basis for decision-making on infrastructure and route planning, capacity expansions, the assessment of environment-related issues and intergovernmental air transport negotiations.

Within the framework of an expert committee, users have the opportunity to bring their wishes and requirements to our attention.

The data collection on air transport statistics follows the provisions of the Regulation 437/2003. All variables in all three data sets are provided.

Overall accuracy of the air transport statistics data is high. The processing with several plausibilty checks as well as checks done before transmitting data to Eurostat provides a high accuracy of the data. Comparisions with published data by airports as well as mirror checks for national flights are carried out regularly. They reveal no significant differences.

Not applicable for air transport data collection.

By working closely with the relevant departments of the airports, the various plausibility checks and the legal obligation ensure correct classifications. Non-sampling errors are minimised.

Air transport statistics are published monthly within 30 days delay of the reporting period. Data-transmission to Eurostat takes place as soon as possible.

Datasets A1 and B1 are available 4 months before the deadline for the data provisions set up in the legal act.

Dataset C1 is available 15 days before the deadline for the data provisions set up in the legal act.

Data comparability across countries is given due to the common legal basis. Comparisions of the data regarding passengers and freight/mail declared by partner reporting airports (so-called mirror checks) by Eurostat allow the detection of possible inconsistencies which can be corrected if necessary.

Since 1951, the Federal Statistical Office has published data on air traffic; the catalogue of characteristic variables remained the same. Publications are available with monthly and annual results from 1951 onwards. With the analysis programs RUBIN, SAFIR and ACHAT, time series from 1989 and 1993 can be carried out respectively. These time series are free of time breaks with respect to the reporting airports.

Coherence is given to some extent for external trade statistics, for tourism statistics and statistics on flight delays. Coherence with airport data, airline data and data of the ADV (Working group of German commercial airports) is also given.

The 3 datasets (A1, B1 and C1) collected and provided to Eurostat are consistent.

The response burden is put on the airports, but is reduced to a minimum – the data users provide the data automatically via a data interface and are only contacted if plausibility errors cannot be solved by the NSI.

No preliminary data are published for air transport. Therefore, in general published data are considered final.

Not applicable (corrections of published results are made in rare cases of publiction errors).

The air transport data are derived from airports in the form of a survey, which is checked at the NSI and then compiled into the required data sets. The airports are the source of the following information:

• Next/previous airports and on flight origin/destination airport
• Flight information – passenger/freight/mail, scheduled/non-scheduled
• Airline information
• Aircraft type
• Number of passengers on board and carried
• Freight and mail on board as well as loaded and unloaded
• Number of direct transit and transfer passengers
• Number of commercial aircraft movements and total aircraft movements.

Moreover, internal registers are used for aircraft characteristics (type, number of seats available).

Information needed for the data sets A1 and B1 are collected on a monthly basis.

Information needed for the data set C1 are collected once a year.

Dataset A1 – Data supplier’s information sources (Passengers on board/ Freight and mail on board):

By law the airlines are obliged to provide the data; in practice the airlines (partly involving handling agents) delegate the process of data-collecting to the airport which transmits electronic files to the Federal Statistical Office.

Dataset A1 – Data transmission to NSI – level of aggregation, system and periodicity (Passengers on board/ Freight and mail on board):

Data are transmitted monthly on an on-line basis (via internet). Level of aggregation: Individual Flight-Level.

Dataset B1 – Data supplier’s information sources (Passengers carried/ Freight and mail loaded/unloaded):

By law the airlines are obliged to provide the data; in practice the airlines (partly involving handling agents) delegate the process of data-collecting to the airport which transmits electronic files to the Federal Statistical Office.

Dataset B1 – Data transmission to NSI – level of aggregation, system and periodicity(Passengers carried/ Freight and mail loaded/unloaded):

Data are transmitted monthly on an on-line basis (via internet). Level of aggregation: Individual Flight-Level

Datasets A1 and B1 - OFOD data derived from Flight-Stage data or collected separately by the data supplier:

OFOD and Flight-Stage –Data are collected using the same questionnaire; but the questionnaire contains different positions to separate OFOD from Flight-Stage data.

Data validation procedure :

• A special plausibility-program electronically verifying the quality of the data contains about 150 individual data-checks.
• About 10 per cent of theses checks corrected errors automatically. The majority of the other checks (errors, warnings) is to be corrected by the staff, otherwise the generation of tables is impossible.

Description of consistency checks :

• Flight-Stage data versus OFOD – Data
• Verification of sums
• Use of updated codes
• Availability of complete ICAO/IATA-Codes (airports worldwide).

After various plausibility checks, the data received from the airports are compiled into monthly data following the structure of the data sets which are preset by regulation (EC) N°1358/2003.

Data codification practices :

• The received codes comply with the Regulation. Transcodifications are not necessary.
• Problems concerning the codes do not occur.

Not applicable for air transport data collection.

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