Overview
- Defence Ministry figures for May–December 2025 list 700 positioning flights and 488 flights carrying cabinet members or the federal president, released via a response to a Linke inquiry.
- A positioning flight is counted when aircraft relocate from the Bundeswehr’s base in Cologne to pick up officials at other locations.
- The Chancellery used the service 106 times in the period, followed by the Foreign Office with 96 and the Federal Presidential Office with 66, while the Agriculture Ministry logged two flights.
- Linke politician Dietmar Bartsch called the scale of use unacceptable, urged more rail or commercial travel, and labeled the Cologne basing an expensive design flaw.
- The Defence Ministry has previously defended positioning flights as serving training and further education, as media analysis also spotlighted climate and budget impacts, including taz noting heavy use by CDU leader Friedrich Merz.