The desire to travel is picking up again. The number of passengers at the airports is also rising sharply. The Frankfurt airport and the airlines are apparently completely unprepared.
In the coming days, Frankfurt Airport is expecting the strongest influx of passengers since the beginning of the Corona crisis. On the first holiday weekend in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate (July 22 to 24) and on other peak days, up to 200,000 passengers are expected per day, the operator Fraport announced on Thursday. That is about 75 percent of the pre-crisis level and twice as much as the competitor London-Heathrow is currently capable of. Up to 1,250 planes with 285 destinations take off and land in Frankfurt every day.
Passengers have to be prepared for long waiting times. Fraport recommends travelers to be at check-in at least 2.5 hours before departure. Returnees are prepared for long waiting times for their luggage. “We are happy that people are going on vacation again. However, the dynamic increase in traffic continues to present us with major challenges, explained Fraport Manager Alexander Laukenmann. The passengers could also speed up the processes themselves. This includes options to check in your luggage the evening before, to check in online or to optimally prepare your hand luggage for the checks.
Not enough staff
At the largest German airport there had been problems in the past few weeks because there was a lack of staff in the ground handling services. Baggage often could not be loaded in time, so that according to Fraport, four-digit numbers of pieces of baggage were left behind and had to be forwarded.
The high demand for travel after the Corona lull had apparently caught the airport and airlines unprepared. Managers of the companies admitted mistakes in the personnel planning. The number of passengers is still well below the level before the pandemic. In June, 5 million passengers meant the highest monthly figure since the Corona outbreak, but at the same time it was still 24.1 percent fewer than in June 2019. In order to rectify the situation, Lufthansa has at its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich for the summer months of July and Almost 6,000 flights canceled in August.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
