Airport operators and their partners have prepared as well as possible for the holiday season and the expected three million passengers, said Capital Airport boss Aletta von Massenbach on Thursday. “Nevertheless, there will be waiting times and delays.” Passengers should obtain comprehensive information, arrive early and pack their hand luggage well.
Passengers at Hamburg Airport also have to be prepared for waiting times, announced airport boss Michael Eggenschwiler. “There is a lack of staff in many places.” Passengers should be at the terminal at least two and a half hours before departure. Air traffic has recovered more than expected and bookings have gone through the roof. Hamburg is soon expecting around 70 percent of the passengers at the pre-crisis level – at peak times even more than in 2019. Managing Director Matthias von Randow from the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry (BDL) appealed to vacationers to check in online or the evening before.
The shortage of staff at airlines and ground service providers is currently causing queues, delays and flight cancellations at airports across Europe. The AUA mother Lufthansa alone takes around 3,000 connections from the flight plan for the summer. Airline boss Carsten Spohr apologized to the passengers and admitted that after the pandemic crisis, savings “were exaggerated in one place or another”. The Frankfurt airport boss and top German airport lobbyist, Stefan Schulte, also apologized and announced improvement for late summer. “But things won’t go really well this year.”
The German government wants to speed up bureaucratic procedures so that temporary assistants, especially from Turkey, can jump in at the airports at short notice and help out with baggage handling and check-in, for example. There should be quick residence and work permits, but no cuts in security. In addition, the assistants must be paid according to the standard wage. The industry is hoping for 1,500 to 2,000 people, most of whom could be deployed from August. However, this is likely to be too late for the holiday business at many airports. Von Massenbach assumes that service providers at BER will also benefit from assistants. “But it’s not a big three-digit number now,” she said.
Source: Nachrichten
