Frankfurt Airport: Lack of staff also affects freight traffic

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Fraport employees load a box into an Airbus

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Silas Stein / dpa

The current handling problems at Frankfurt Airport also have an impact on air freight traffic.

A measure to stabilize the entire system is that, in addition to passenger and individual freight airlines, flights are moved or canceled from peak times to times with less traffic, a spokeswoman for the airport told the dpa news agency on request.

With a view to the lack of staff, the handling of passenger and freight aircraft is looked at where the need is greatest and the staff is then deployed accordingly.

Embargo on various animals

A spokeswoman for the airline said that the operations of the cargo airline Lufthansa Cargo had been "sensitively" disrupted by the lack of staff in Frankfurt.

On Friday there were four flight cancellations for freight connections and some delays.

In order to take the load off the system, an embargo has now also been placed on various animals until July 10th.

"We continue to analyze the situation at the Frankfurt hub very closely and will take further measures if necessary," said the spokeswoman.

A lack of employees, for example in baggage handling or at security checks, led to sometimes chaotic conditions in Frankfurt and also at other German airports at the start of the main travel season.

The situation in air traffic is also tense in other European countries.

Because of the high passenger volume, Frankfurt Airport warned on Twitter on Saturday of disruptions and longer waiting times.

Aviation is in a dilemma.

With the ebb of the corona pandemic, which paralyzed the industry for a long time, the industry intends to finally take off.

But instead there are flight cancellations, delays and queues.

The sticking point is a lack of staff and bottlenecks at security controls, check-in and aircraft handling.

According to the airport association ADV, about every fifth position there is vacant.

Lufthansa recently announced that it would cancel more than 2,000 more flights at its Frankfurt and Munich hubs – partly because more crews are reporting sick due to corona cases.

A good three weeks ago, she announced that she would be canceling 900 connections on Fridays and weekends in July.

The low-cost subsidiary Eurowings also expects further cuts.

svs/dpa