Summer is here, people are flying south. Or at least plan to. But for many, the desire to go on vacation is followed by frustration at the airport. Chaos at the airports!
The airlines and airport companies are running out of air.
Lufthansa has already canceled 900 weekend flights at the Frankfurt and Munich hubs in July in order to relieve the strain on the airports at peak times – and may have to do more! That could be necessary to stabilize air traffic in Europe, said Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr on Monday at the annual meeting of the global airline association IATA in Doha. According to a spokesman, it is still unclear how things will continue in August. The airline is trying to rebook customers on alternative flights or train connections on the same day if possible.
Due to a shortage of staff, the Frankfurt airport operator Fraport wants to use the board and administrative staff for handling at Frankfurt Airport. A Fraport spokeswoman: “This is one of many measures to prepare for the travel peaks.” More than 100 employees from the administration had pledged their support. The board also wants to help out and has already been in action in the past few days. The “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” had previously reported.
From the beginning of June to the end of August, Easyjet has already canceled around a dozen departures and arrivals a day at its most important German departure point Berlin – this means that around 1000 connections are already lost! The airline also justified this with an unusually high level of sick leave.
Chaotic conditions at London’s Heathrow Airport
In Great Britain, the low-cost airline has difficulties hiring staff from EU countries – because of Brexit! Result: frustration and chaos at the airports!
And in Brussels, travelers checked that the airport was paralyzed due to a security staff strike. 232 flights were canceled, affecting around 30,000 passengers.
–A strike paralyzed Brussels airport on Monday
Suitcases are piling up in Hamburg!
But the chaos can already be felt at German airports!
The security checkpoints at Hamburg Airport have been operating normally in the past few days and weeks (with a few exceptions). But there is a huge suitcase chaos!
–Baggage is piling up everywhere at Hamburg Airport. Passengers have to wait days for their suitcases
Tons of luggage that was transported late by the airlines and is now piling up in the arrivals hall. Passengers sometimes have to wait days, even more than a week, for their luggage. This is a suitcase catastrophe, which the management of the airport recognizes, but is not responsible for, as this is a matter for the airlines.
A responsible spokeswoman for the Hamburg economics authority told BILD: “Heaps of rush luggage (suitcases that could not be loaded on time or landed on the wrong plane, the editor) is currently a Europe-wide problem, this is not just a Hamburg issue.”
Cancellations in Dusseldorf
Chaos also at Düsseldorf Airport (around 25 million passengers), flights were canceled. Long queues formed on Monday. The reason was again the acute shortage of staff at the airlines – and many sick leave – also because of Corona! “In the past few days, our crews have reported sick at short notice, including corona diseases. The surprising cancellations exceeded our reserves for a short time, which is why we were unfortunately unable to operate some flights,” said a spokeswoman.
According to Eurowings, almost ten percent of the flights have been canceled in the past few days.
–Long queues and frustration at the Eurowings counter in Düsseldorf. The line has canceled every tenth flight over the past few days due to a lack of staff
Among other things, connections to and from Munich, Wroclaw, Westerland, Marseille, Milan, Manchester and Vienna were affected. At the counter for rebooking, only two Eurowings employees are said to have been responsible for the hundreds of frustrated passengers.
Long queues in Hanover
Double frustration at Hanover Airport. The patience of the passengers is put to the test at the security check-in. Long queues form here every day. Then comes the frustration with the luggage. You are no longer the master of the flood of suitcases, luggage is stored temporarily.
At BER Airport: “Be at the airport two hours before”
When it comes to chaos, Willy Brandt Airport should not go unmentioned. Yesterday, long queues at BER also caused holiday frustration instead of pleasure. The low-cost airline Easyjet cancels around a dozen of its flights here every day.
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A press spokesman for the airport told BILD: “As at all airports around the world, there are always staff shortages. This can result in waiting times during peak travel times. All in all, our request remains: be at the airport two hours beforehand. With check-in and travel time, it should work even with an hour’s waiting time. We have to ask for your understanding.”
There are waves, please be patient during peak periods. Colleagues would try to do everything possible to process passengers as quickly and stably as possible.
“We work hard to ensure that there are enough staff on the spot at the right time. But it’s not chaos, the situation and operations are orderly. For example, peak times are early in the morning.”
In Munich, things are still going according to plan
There are no long queues at Munich’s Franz Josef Strauss Airport, says a spokesman for the responsible security company at Munich Airport mbH. The maximum waiting time in Terminal 2 last week was 16 minutes.
No special incidents at Frankfurt Airport
Finally, the good news for all long-distance travelers: At Germany’s most important airport, Frankfurt am Main, everything runs almost smoothly. Reza Ahmari, spokesman for the federal police at Frankfurt Airport, told BILD: “There were no unusual delays or problems at the security checks. Of course, there are problems with one or the other flight due to delays or a machine is cancelled. But nothing that goes beyond the normal level.”
What is the problem?
In Europe, 600,000 jobs were lost in aviation as a result of the Corona crisis, and 2.3 million jobs were lost worldwide. Many workers have sought alternatives to jobs that involve shift work and physical hard work, such as baggage handling.
According to the airport association ADV, 20 percent of the positions at German airports are vacant! The works councils from all over Germany have already warned of a “system collapse”, writing: “According to the works councils, there is currently a shortage of more than 5,500 employees in Germany, around 3,000 of them in Frankfurt and Munich alone.”
What are the prospects?
–Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (52, FDP) in the BILD am SONNTAG interview: “Short-term solutions would be extremely desirable, but are not very likely”
The bottleneck could continue beyond the summer as older workers retire and fewer young people are interested in working at the airport, said Rico Luman, an analyst at Bank ING. “Even if there is a recession, the labor market will remain tight at least this year,” he added.
Germany’s airports are in exceptional mode – and the federal government is still quite at a loss. Transport Minister Volker Wissing (52, FDP) a week ago to BILD am SONNTAG: “Short-term solutions would be extremely desirable, but are not very likely.”
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