The term "Air Defender" stands for the largest air exercise of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since its founding in 1949. The armed forces are jointly rehearsing their defense. From June 12 to 23, more than 230 aircraft and around 10,000 soldiers will fly missions. The U.S. alone is sending nearly 100 aircraft. Among other things, they will practice moving larger units of troops quickly. The German Air Force is in charge of the exercise. Twenty EU states are taking part, including France, Poland and Romania, as well as Sweden, which is not yet a member of NATO. They are joined by Great Britain, Norway, Turkey, the USA and Japan (also not in NATO).

At this time, Air Defender has nothing to do with Russia's war against Ukraine. The large-scale exercise has been planned for about four years. Originally, it was intended to show that Germany is capable of deploying and controlling large multinational airborne units within NATO. Air Defender is something like a final project. With Russia's attack on Ukraine, the exercise is also a sign of NATO's force - and how ready it is to defend its territory.

Maneuvers are practiced at various altitudes between 2,500 and 10,000 meters. Jet-fight flights are also planned at altitudes of 3,000 meters and above, especially over the North Sea. Planned are also daily flights to Estonia and Romania at NATO's external borders. The main hubs for the aircraft are the military airfields at Hohn near Rendsburg in Schleswig-Holstein, Wunstorf northwest of Hanover in Lower Saxony and Lechfeld west of Munich in Bavaria. But aircraft also take off from other locations in Germany, such as Jagel near Schleswig. Airfields in the Netherlands and the Czech Republic are also included.

Where fighter jets refuel and practice missions, civilian aircraft are not allowed to fly. In order to cause as little disruption as possible, three areas have been defined in the airspace, some of which are frequently used by the military anyway. Flight Zone North covers East Frisia, parts of Emsland and northern Schleswig-Holstein. East covers Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, part of Berlin-Brandenburg and a large area between Leipzig and Dresden. South is a band from Rhineland-Palatinate via Stuttgart to Augsburg and Kempten in the Allgäu region. The three zones will be completely closed to Lufthansa, Easyjet and others at different times of the day: North between 4 and 8 p.m. daily, East between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., South between 1 and 5 p.m.. However, there are corridors within the zones that civilian aircraft can use. The military does not fly on weekends.

The European air navigation service provider Eurocontrol has had three run-throughs of how civil air traffic will be affected - most recently at the beginning of May with the planned flight schedule. Flights are not expected to be cancelled. However, flights to or from German airports may be delayed or take longer because they have to fly around the exclusion zones. The German Air Transport Association (BDL) said, "A precise outlook on this cannot be determined at present." Airlines have known about the exercise for some time and should have adjusted their flight schedules accordingly. Lufthansa, Germany's largest airline, declined to comment. Eurocontrol will reroute numerous flights that usually fly over Germany but do not land here to relieve German airspace, the BDL said. In addition, the ban on night flights will be relaxed should aircraft be delayed in the evening because of the military exercise. "We are in talks with the state aviation authorities on this.”

There is nothing to stop you from booking a flight that takes place during the military exercise period. There is no guarantee that the flight will be on time. Stuttgart and Berlin airports are each located in one of the flight zones, but in a corridor where takeoffs and landings are possible. The major airports of Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf and Cologne/Bonn, as well as Hamburg, are not directly affected, but detours may be necessary. German air traffic control, which manages civil air traffic, has already significantly increased its staff. Basically, one problem remains: the airspace over Germany is full anyway, and on certain routes it will become even more crowded during "Air Defender". If you want to be on the safe side and avoid any risk, you might want to postpone a flight. Information on specific flights can be obtained from the respective airlines.

Aircraft noise will be unavoidable, especially during takeoffs and landings, according to the Bundeswehr. Transport aircraft and fighter planes are not usually optimized to be particularly quiet. Under "Air Defender," low-level flights in which the aircraft fly below 600 meters above the ground are not planned over land. They are planned over the Baltic Sea. Complaints can be made to the German Armed Forces Aviation Office by calling the toll-free number ☎ 0800/86 20 730.

(Orig. text: Björn Hartmann / Translation: Carol Kloeppel)