Flight cancellations, endless waiting! What is happening at airports?

Queue to the street at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam

Before rest carving patience

But the joy of holidaymakers and airlines for the increase in the number of flights is fading from the long queues at many European airports. In front of the high number of people who want to relax stands a small number of staff. For months this lack of staff has been causing chaos at some airports in Germany and other European countries. In Hanover, for example, affected are passengers who take late night flights to Turkey and Greece and other destinations in the Mediterranean. Often they face extremely long queues at check-in or security checks. Even at airports in the land of NRW the situation is not better. Queues up to 300m long have been partially created, writes the German portal “Redaktionsnetzwerk”, RND.

For weeks, Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, has been struggling with staff shortage problems, with passengers having to wait up to three hours before security checks, queuing up on the road. For this reason the Flight Company, KLM has significantly reduced ticket sales. Only expensive tickets are available, a spokesman said.

Such very long queues have been seen especially at British airports. Easyjet Airlines has canceled 200 flights for the next two weeks. This is necessary to enable proper service, said Easyjet. By June 6, 24 flights at Gatwick Airport will be affected by this cancellation, writes dpa. British Airway has also canceled 1,400 flights since April.

Lufthansa reacts

Even Germany’s largest airline, Lufthansa reacts by reducing its flight plan. A Lufthansa spokesman told the RND portal that Lufthansa would cancel internal flight links, “to avoid operational bottlenecks” at airports. This is necessary due to the lack of staff at the airports.

absencee 20% of staff

Problems of staff shortages affect security services and other passenger handling services. “All airports lack service personnel, who deal with the preparation of passengers for travel, about 20% less of this staff compared to the period before Corona”, said Ralph Beisel, director of the German Association of Airports ” , for the RND portal. This causes delays in check-in, luggage loading, and security checks. Also due to these staff shortages, many passengers wait a long time to get their luggage.

According to Beisel, there are great efforts to mitigate the situation, where possible. “At the critical points, many airports have added staff, for example through the floor-walker, people who help the passengers who wait and orient them.

Chaos before summer?

It is uncertain whether the airports will recruit new staff by summer. Experts call this unlikely. Fraport, at Frankfurt Airport seeks to prepare passengers for problems during the summer. Even in summer there will be problems with the flight, because even in these months at this airport will not be available 100% of the staff. In the summer certain flights are expected to be canceled or delayed in order to avoid chaos at airports.

Passengers themselves can help by checking in online and handing out all their luggage so that there is not too much to check at security checks. Prior information also helps to alleviate long queues. Many countries still require a negative Corona test, so preparing documents in advance shortens staff time at inspections. Some companies offer the luggage delivery service the night before, and this service also shortens the time, just a call to the airline’s customer service is enough to shorten the time for the next day./DW