Travel chaos at German airports "is out of the question and embarrassing" - summer holidays start in three federal states

Created: 07/07/2022, 10:24 am

By: Patrick Huljina

The travel chaos at German airports spoils the joy of the holiday start for many passengers.

The holidays start in three federal states today.

Berlin/Hamburg - With Berlin, Brandenburg and Hamburg, the next three federal states will start their summer holidays on Thursday (July 7th).

For many families this means: Holidays at long last!

However, there is often a major hurdle between relaxation at the travel destination and the passengers – the travel chaos at German airports.

Flights are delayed or canceled altogether.

There are long queues.

There are always problems with baggage claim - some passengers even have to leave the airport without their suitcases.

Many airports in Germany are struggling with bottlenecks.

Since the summer vacation - and thus the main travel season - is still to come in many federal states, according to the head of Frankfurt Airport, there is no quick improvement in sight.

Long queues formed at Hamburg Airport at the start of the holiday season.

© Bodo Marks/dpa

Travel chaos in Germany: Airports report a need for foreign temporary workers

To solve the handling problems, the larger German airport locations have announced their need for foreign temporary workers.

Inquiries have been received from airport operators and private ground handling service providers, said Ralph Beisel, the general manager of the airport association ADV.

He did not give figures for individual locations.

Overall, the association had announced a need for around 2,000 temporary workers.

They should come mainly from Turkey and be employed according to German collective bargaining conditions.

After negotiations with the federal government, no check is made as to whether German employees are available for the jobs.

The enlistment is intended to alleviate the staffing issues that have led to numerous delays and complaints from disgruntled passengers.

Frankfurt Airport expects the people to be deployed in September.

Airport chaos in Germany: the situation "is out of the question and embarrassing"

In view of the bottlenecks at airports, the Union has asked the federal government to find quick solutions.

Union parliamentary group leader Ulrich Lange (CSU) told the dpa: “The current situation at our airports is out of the question.

It's embarrassing and it damages Germany's reputation in the world.

I understand the thousands of passengers whose time, money and nerves are wasted even though they just want to fly on their relaxing holiday.” Two couples from the Munich region are also affected.

They have to deal with canceled flights and fight questionable refunds.

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On Thursday, the Bundestag is to discuss an application by the CDU/CSU parliamentary group to eliminate the chaos at the airports.

Among other things, the federal government should be asked to immediately convene an “air travel summit” with the participation of the responsible federal ministers.