Airlines Complains About Flight Delays And Cancellations

President Bush went to Europe last week to do a little fence-mending. In the wake of his trip, he may have to do a little more. Lufthansa is contemplating a lawsuit against the president because that goodwill jaunt forced the cancellation or delay of several company flights in and out of Frankfurt.

The issue, of course, was security. In the process of "sterilizing" the area, the German government forced Lufthansa to cancel 92 flights, leaving 5,730 passengers with no way to get from Point A to Point B. Lufthansa spokesman Thomas Jachnow told Bloomberg News in a phone interview that losses could run "well into the millions."

A spokesman for DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH, the company that runs Germany's air traffic system, said President Bush's visit cost about $66 a minute.

The way DFS tells it, the US Secret Service ordered the closure of the airport two days before Bush flew to Frankfurt, then drove to Mainz (about 40 km away) for a meeting with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. DFS said that contradicted an earlier US promise that closing the airport wouldn't be necessary. The USSS said it needed to close the airport to clear the shortest possible route from Air Force One to the airport exit.

"Massive reference to the serious consequences this plan would have on flight operations failed to change their position," a DFS statement said.

FMI: www.luftrecht-online.de/english/dfs.htm, www.ustreas.gov/usss/index.shtml