Pilots praise Leipzig-Halle airport as safest in Germany

Germany's pilots have designated Leipzig-Halle as the country's safest airport, according to the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) pilots' union.

In their annual airport check, published on Wednesday, the pilots praised the exemplary lighting systems on Leipzig-Halle's runways. This includes stop bars illuminated throughout the day at the access points to prevent collisions on the runways.

Munich, the previous front-runner, slipped to second place in the current evaluation because the stop bars there are not in operation all day. A VC spokesman said it is a common problem at German airports that the existing strips are usually only activated by air traffic control in conditions of poor visibility.

The pilots are calling for backups to be installed for the US GPS system, which they say are more often disrupted - for example by jamming - due to geopolitical tensions, such as the war in Ukraine.

Lübeck Airport replaced Mannheim Airport at the bottom of the safety table. Pilots in Lübeck were unhappy that they were not invited to safety meetings. They also complained that there were no sufficiently secured open areas with a length of 300 metres at the ends of the runway.

The Vereinigung Cockpit working group has been conducting annual safety checks at German commercial airports since 1978. The investigation is based on a list of criteria that includes both international regulations and additional measures that pilots consider useful.