Friedrich Merz has put aviation back at the center of industrial policy as the federal cabinet approved a new Luftfahrtstrategie for Germany. The plan sets a 15-year framework for civil aviation, aerospace manufacturing and military aviation, with competitiveness, sovereignty, resilience and sustainability as its four stated pillars.
Berlin is using the strategy to align research, regulation and industrial policy around one aviation ecosystem. For operators and suppliers, the signal is clearer than the detail: the government wants to lower structural drag, improve planning certainty and keep Germany attractive for investment, production and MRO capacity. That also ties the sector more closely to defense priorities and the broader debate on climate-compatible operations.
The real test now shifts to execution. Industry will judge the strategy by cost relief, faster implementation and whether it produces measurable gains in location quality before the next investment cycle.