Many will be aware of NATO's rather large military exercises planned to take place over multiple areas of Germany during 12-23 June 2023. A basic press release can be found at
https://ac.nato.int/archive/2023/AD23_announcement
Germany ATC have published some maps at
https://www.dfs.de/homepage/de/medie...defender-2023/
It's clear that this exercise will be rather larger than previous years, and some areas of German airspace are expected to be closed or restricted. I'm aware military flying is Monday-Friday only and in each exercises zone, airspace will be closed for a limited number of hours per day.
Would anybody who's actively involved in mass flight planning / operations be able to give an opinion on how this will affect COMMERCIAL NOT MILITARY flights - be it cancellations, delays, etc. I'm aware that major airlines and airports in Europe have been very quiet on the topic, and the only public comment by those working in commercial aviation has been people appearing to cover their backsides.
Will flights that substantially pass over Germany (but do not land) likely be cancelled ? Is German ATC realistically able to handle this without lots of images of people stuck in airports making the headlines ? Other related questions that are worthy of discussion ?
Note - please don't turn this into a NATO good/bad debate, a discussion of whether EU261 compensation applies, or into anything else that should be in Jet Blast. I'm interested in what European aviation will or won't be able to do - not a blame game.