Chaos at the airports: Some airlines fly completely "without loaded luggage"
Created: 08/03/2022 15:52
By: Franziska Kaindl
4,200 lost suitcases are currently piling up at Dublin Airport.
But that's not all: Some flights supposedly arrive without any luggage.
Long queues at the counters, canceled flights and orphaned suitcases are currently shaping the picture at numerous European airports.
The effects of the staff shortage in the aviation industry have been apparent for weeks - and there is still no end to the crisis in sight.
After all, the summer holidays have only just begun in some federal states.
Dublin Airport is one of the airports particularly affected.
A few weeks ago, a kind of "triage" for passengers was introduced here after queues had formed in front of the airport building.
Some passengers even bought a plane ticket just to look for their stranded luggage at the baggage carousel.
And the suitcase chaos doesn't seem to be over yet: according to
The Journal , there are 4,200 orphaned pieces of luggage
still in the airport.
Giving them back to their owners is "like trying to scale a sand dune," officials told the Irish Parliament's Transport Committee.
Missing staff: planes land “without luggage”
The reason for the high number of lost pieces of luggage is the staffing problem at European airports and airlines, as reported by Gerard Kenny from the handling company Sky Handling Partner (SHP).
According to him, some flights arrive at the airport completely "without luggage loaded": "Some airlines even choose daily which flights they do not load because they also do not have the necessary resources." Because of the chaotic situation at Dublin Airport, representatives of SHP, ground-handling giant Swissport, the Dublin Airport Authority and Irish airline Aer Lingus appear before the Parliamentary Committee on Tuesday.
The handling companies are according to
The Journal
responsible for around 10 percent of baggage at the airport, while Ryanair and Aer Lingus handle the remaining 80 percent.
Passengers queue at Dublin Airport.
© Niall Carson/dpa
2,897 of the stranded bags alone are the responsibility of the handling company Sky Handling Partner (SHP), as Managing Director Darren Moloney explained to the committee.
According to him, the company could handle 350 suitcases a day, at that rate, all would be reunited with their owners within two weeks.
However, 270 new pieces of luggage are added every day.
Aer Lingus, on the other hand, counts 1,200 lost bags at the airport, of which 700 can be processed a day.
Here, 450 new suitcases are added every day, as the transport committee found out.
Biggest problems occur at hubs and connecting flights
According to the Irish Times
, Lynne Embleton, CEO of Aer Lingus, pointed
out that problems are most common on flights from hubs such as London Heathrow or Amsterdam Schipol.
Passengers with connecting flights are at a higher risk of losing their luggage.
