Aviation Diplomacy und (un-)erwünschte Mobilität am Frankfurter Flughafen, 1945–1990er Jahre

Abstract

Today, almost every state visit begins at the airport. Yet air routes not only make diplomatic travel possible, they are also themselves at the center of diplomatic initiatives. Using the case of Frankfurt airport in the second half of the twentieth century, we examine the historical significance of air routes for diplomatic relations, as well as their unintended diplomatic consequences. Considering the airport as a national and regional border area, we understand the diplomacy surrounding air routes as border relations in which states negotiated the opening, shifting, and control of national borders. On the one hand, by highlighting the diplomatic celebrations of inaugural flights, we show that air routes were welcomed by state officials, regional representatives, and private actors as a positive and profitable means of overcoming borders. On the other hand, states regarded certain mobilities as undesirable, turning certain air routes into a kind of border violation and triggering a more problematic form of diplomacy.