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Taking off at Hamburg Airport: "It is positive that the demand for travel does not decrease significantly after the end of the holiday."
Photo: Daniel Reinhardt / picture alliance / dpa
The need for relaxation and the general desire to travel can also be seen at Germany's airports.
These have now drawn their balance sheet for the second Corona summer - and according to the information it is "mostly positive".
In the holiday season from June 19 to September 12, 28.6 million travelers would have used a German airport as a starting or destination point.
That is 14.9 million more than last summer, as the airport association ADV announced.
Compared to summer 2019, however, there were only half as many (52 percent).
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The association expects passenger numbers to remain stable: »It is positive that the demand for travel does not decline significantly after the end of the holiday.
Based on the booking figures, it can be assumed that the current good level will continue in October, ”explained ADV CEO Ralph Beisel.
With the end of the holiday season, business travel demand will also return.
A few weeks ago, the ADV's assessment sounded much more pessimistic: In the month of July, just under 9.9 million people used the airports in Germany.
That was only 40 percent of the volume from July 2019, the year before the pandemic.
Are there any bright spots now?
Beisel emphasized that despite the time-consuming hygiene measures - from check-in through security to aircraft handling - three out of four take-offs were on time.
There are also hardly any short-term flight cancellations, for example due to a drop in demand due to changed travel restrictions.
"The flight plans are stable again."
Far from economical operation
At the beginning of the holiday, the traffic skyrocketed, but the trips were booked at short notice, which "posed major challenges for the airlines' flight planning and the management of operational airport processes."
Due to the very uneven distribution of flights over the day, there were traffic peaks in which the volume was even above the pre-crisis level.
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The association still complains that German airports are still economically "with their backs to the wall".
With only half the number of passengers in 2019, they are still a long way from being economically viable.
As in the previous year, they would also close in 2021 with a loss of billions.
"The aviation industry was the first industry to be hit by the pandemic and it will be the last to leave the crisis," Beisel said.
But it is also clear: "People want to travel by air again, despite the frequently changing travel regulations that the pandemic situation brings with it."
jus / AFP
