Number of domestic and international air passengers continues to rise in Germany

The number of flights taken in Germany to domestic as well as international destinations continues to rise, the Destatis national statistical office has found. In the first half of 2019, the number of air passengers at Germany's 24 most important airports grew by over 4 percent to 58.9 million and the number of domestic journeys by 2.3 percent to 11.6 million. On the other hand, the volume of air freight fell by more than 3 percent to 2.3 million tonnes between January and June compared to the same period last year, Destatis said.

Air travel is one of the fastest growing sources of carbon emissions and airline companies have come under pressure to find cleaner alternatives to its current fossil-fuel based propulsion systems. Germany's government recently said it wanted to make the country "a leading location" for the development of more climate-friendly aviation technology, citing hydrogen from renewable power sources as a possible solution for carbon-neutral air travel.