Overview

• Plaintiffs including the City and District of Freising, Municipality of Berglern, Bund Naturschutz and six private individuals are challenging a Luftamt Südbayern directive that indefinitely extends the 2016 permit beyond its March 2026 expiry.
• On July 8, judges meticulously examined whether ancillary works like the S-Bahn tunnel, apron expansion and Ost-Tangente qualify as part of the runway plan and thus prevent the permit from lapsing.
• The court criticized FMG’s heavy redactions in shareholder documents even as those papers confirmed the third runway remains in medium- and long-term planning with a 2035 commissioning target.
• Plaintiffs argue that no construction of the runway itself has begun and that ancillary projects serve existing airport operations, so the runway’s separate ten-year approval should expire in March 2026.
• Both sides have until July 22 to submit further briefs and the court indicated it may issue a ruling by the end of July.