Airports have a reputation as engines for job creation. Experience dictates that about one million passengers per annum create approx. 1,000 jobs in and around an airport. The figures at Leipzig/Halle and Dresden Airports are similar.

Passengers are not the only source of jobs at Leipzig/Halle – cargo in particular creates employment here. There were 3,693 people employed at the site at the end of 2007, almost 37 more than one year previously.

1,485 people worked in the flight operations sector alone at the airport at the end of last year – that accounts for 40.2 percent of the total employment figures. The cargo division easily registered the largest growth in employment. The number in the same period rose by 331 percent to 1,737 employees. This means that 47 percent of all those employed at the airport work in the freight sector. In addition, as many as 1,100 construction company employees were also working on extension projects at the site. The number of people employed by the companies in the Central German Airports at the Leipzig/Halle site rose by almost double digits in percentage terms too – the figure grew by 9.9 percent to 588 within the year. The number of companies at the airport rose to 144 over the past twelve months.

The number of workers at Dresden Airport also continued to rise last year, reflecting the trend at Leipzig/Halle. 2,907 people were employed at 124 companies, service providers and public service authorities at the airport at the end of 2007. This represents an increase of 5.7 percent over 2006 and the rise is 20 percent above the figure for 2005. This is the third successive year that job figures have risen to new record levels.

35.5 percent of all the employees at the airport work in flight operations. This includes jobs at airlines or on the apron area. Jobs at service companies like travel agents or catering facilities account for 7.1 percent of the figure and cargo services 4.2 percent. More than half the employees – 53.2 percent – at the airport site work for outside companies – for example, in the aviation industry.

The airport companies in the Saxon capital employed 2.7 percent more staff in 2007 than at the end of 2006. The Central German Airports Group at the Dresden site and its subsidiary companies, Flughafen Dresden GmbH and PortGround GmbH, provided work for 343 people.

The new runway at Dresden Airport, which was renewed and extended, had an important effect on the regional jobs market. The project worth millions of euros safeguarded about 500 jobs at building companies, engineering and planning offices and security firms. 98 companies were involved in the project and 71 of them came from Saxony.

The Central German Airports Group is a state owned company and is developing the airports in Central Germany in a forward-looking manner to meet needs. The group has four subsidiaries: Flughafen Leipzig/Halle GmbH, Flughafen Dresden GmbH, PortGround GmbH and EasternAirCargo GmbH. The group achieved a total turnover of € 92.4 million in 2006, handled 79,760 flights and moved 4.19 million passengers and 39,954 tonnes of freight. The group directly employs 903 members of staff and trainees. Some 4,500 people work at the Central German Airports Group sites in a wide variety of companies and public service agencies.