The action is unprecedented: According to the German Foreign Minister, almost 200,000 Germans have already been brought home because of the pandemic. In the morning, passengers from the cruise ship "Zaandam" arrived in Frankfurt.
Düsseldorf (dpa) - The Federal Foreign Office assumes that there are currently more than 40,000 German travelers abroad in the Corona crisis. The information was based on estimates, said the Ministry of the "Rheinische Post" (Saturday).
The first plane from New Zealand landed in Frankfurt am Main in the morning. As the Federal Police announced on request, Air New Zealand's aircraft arrived at Auckland shortly after 6:00 with a stopover in Vancouver, Canada.
Most Germans are currently stuck abroad in New Zealand - more than 12,000 had registered for the return program due to the corona crisis, according to the German embassy in Wellington. There will be further evacuation flights from Auckland and Christchurch in the coming days. Lufthansa claims to be involved in this with ten wide-bodied aircraft.
In addition, 72 German passengers of the cruise ship "Zaandam" returned from Florida. As the Federal Foreign Office confirmed, they also landed in Frankfurt in the morning. Seven passengers are said to still be in Florida. The ship had embarked on an odyssey after corona cases and was only allowed to moor in the USA after a long struggle.
According to the Federal Foreign Office, most Germans are still in South Africa, New Zealand and Peru. The German government is currently gathering stranded holidaymakers all over the world because of the pandemic and bringing them home. According to Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, a total of 194,000 German tourists had been returned by Friday.
"Logistically, it was a hussar piece for everyone involved," Maas told the newspaper. The crisis response center is used to a lot. "But the Federal Foreign Office is not an airline that does something like this every day. We had a steep learning curve at the beginning," said the Foreign Minister. On some days, 20 planes were in the air at the same time to bring back German citizens.
The government wanted to bring back all German travelers from abroad, the minister said, but at the same time asked for patience: "It is not up to us alone until when this will be possible in every country."
