Vor dem Covid Crash: Das goldene Jahrzehnt der globalen Lufttransportnetze

The paper describes the global network for air transport and shows the high growth in transport services, both for passenger transport and for the transport of goods (air cargo), in the period from 2000 to 2019. The decade from 2010 to 2019 was characterised by particularly high growth rates not previously discussed in the literature and can be described as a golden decade. The growth in air traffic is both an expression of the globalisation of the economy and a driver of globalisation. Various drivers for the high growth are discussed. The high growth results in conflicts of interest with the goal of global CO2 reduction. The 2020 Covid crisis brought the golden decade to an abrupt end, and the paper shows how the global air transport network has responded. At the end of the paper, the climate protection issue of air transport and the role of long-distance flights are discussed and the example of airport Frankfurt as source of long-distance flights is shown.