Überflieger.
Grenzverschiebungen und Grenzverletzungen im Flugverkehr
Abstract
This article focuses on the idiosyncrasies of airborne borders in the context of civil aviation. While at first glance it seems that crossing borders in an airplane would be much easier than crossing checkpoints in a car or train. We can observe that border control, for example inside the European Union, has been liberalized; however, any domestic city has turned into a border post, given that there is an airport large enough for mid-range aircraft. In fact, with the establishment of passport control in airports and extensive radar control crossing borders in airplanes has become more and more difficult in the course of the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries, especially for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Even if, on the one hand, the expansion of civil aviation is an indicator for the liberalization of border-crossing travel, it does on the other hand limit the freedom to travel of those who do not have the “right” passport and citizenship.