/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/madsack/YDNKKUMZG5EX7MOP3MBIBVMK5A.jpeg?fit=%2C&ssl=1)
The desire to travel of people in Germany after more than two years of Corona is huge. In the summer holidays, the airports are again recording departures at the pre-crisis level at peak times, sometimes even higher. However, airlines and airports cannot cope with the processing of the tourist masses – the travel plans of many people are shaken as a result. A lot of staff is missing, and now there are also strikes and more corona sick leave.
Read more after the ad
–
Read more after the ad
–
Lufthansa recently announced that it would cancel 2,200 more flights at its Frankfurt and Munich hubs. Together with the cuts that have already been announced, more than 3,000 connections will be lost in July – both during the week and at weekends.
Lufthansa: No classic holiday destinations affected
According to the airline, the cancellations affect domestic German and intra-European flights in particular, but not the classic holiday destinations that are well utilized during the holiday season. A Lufthansa spokesman told the editorial network Germany (RND) that the European connections were primarily aimed at destinations used by business travelers – “which we also serve frequently, such as London, Brussels, Vienna or Graz”. On these routes, passengers could easily be rebooked for other times of the day.
Read more after the ad
–
Read more after the ad
–
Chaos at the start of the holiday: long queues at Düsseldorf Airport
Hundreds of airline passengers are waiting to be checked in. And some even had their flights canceled at short notice.
© What: Reuters
—
Will travelers have to expect further cancellations? He can’t say anything about that at the moment, the company spokesman said. “We currently have no plans in this regard. We will wait and see how things develop and then see how we have to decide.” It is hoped that the long-term decisions made over the past week have stabilized the entire system.
Lufthansa subsidiaries Eurowings and Swiss are canceling flights
Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings has also canceled hundreds of flights, some at extremely short notice. Even at the end of June, even though some of the passengers had already checked in and handed in their luggage.
In the meantime, the situation has “visibly stabilized,” said a Eurowings spokeswoman. “Accordingly, there are hardly any daily cancellations today because the entire system can withstand the current load of the many holiday flights better than in the past few days.” She assumes that “this positive trend will continue in the next few days”.
Read more after the ad
–
Read more after the ad
–
Eurowings has significantly increased its own reserves and buffers in the past few days in order to fly the flight schedule as best as possible over the summer. At Düsseldorf Airport, for example, the check-in counters open at the weekends – Saturdays and Sundays – for flights up to 6:30 a.m. from 3 a.m. However, adjustments could also have to be made in August “if the staffing situation at airports in security checks, ground handling services, air traffic control, etc. does not improve.”
Swiss also had to cancel further trips: 674 flights between August and October will be cancelled. According to “Blick.ch“ including flights from Zurich to Gdansk, Birmingham, Luxembourg and Berlin. At Geneva Airport, flights to Brussels and London will not be able to take place as planned. Destinations in North America are also affected. The airline had already cut the flight schedule in April and early June. Overall, the flights make up two percent of the actual planned flight plan.
Tuifly and Condor: “Are not planning any flight cancellations in summer”
A Condor spokeswoman told the RND: “Condor is not planning any flight cancellations for the summer months.” The airline had not cut any jobs in the corona pandemic and the situation was well under control so far. In addition, on peak days, for example at the beginning of the summer holidays in individual federal states, Condor also uses aircraft from other airlines to bring all customers to their holiday destinations as planned – and back again.
According to its own statements, Tuifly is not thinking of canceling flights in the summer of 2022, despite the lack of staff at the airports. “We have a very concentrated route network with a fleet of 22 machines and mainly fly to the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Algarve, Madeira, Cape Verde, Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, Kos, Araxos and Cyprus,” said company spokesman Aage Dünhaupt to the RND. Another difference to the other airlines is that the destinations – with the exception of Mallorca – are not served daily.
Airlines are canceling flights: What travelers need to know
Canceled flights, problems with handling at the airports: a chaotic summer of air travel may be imminent. Is the holiday in jeopardy?
© Source: dpa
—
Read more after the ad
–
Read more after the ad
–
This makes it difficult to transfer to other connections. That’s why a Tuifly machine usually waits “a few minutes longer” if passengers are still stuck in the security check, according to Dünhaupt. And if there are major problems, you “always follow the flight during the day or night.”
Tui offers flights from other airlines
However: Not every Tui trip also includes a Tuifly flight. The tour operator is Customer with several airlines, including at Eurowings. You can see which airline holidaymakers are traveling with by looking at the flight identification: EWG or EW means that they are flying with Eurowings. Tuifly flights have the identifier X3.
“In the summer we have up to six full charter flights per week with Eurowings from Hamburg and Berlin to Greece and Spain,” says Tuispeaker Dünhaupt. In the summer months from June to September, Tui Germany also bought larger contingents from Smartlynx at Saarbrücken and Nuremberg airports and from Paderborn and Leipzig from Freebird Europe.
Strikes cause additional bottlenecks
Strikes at other European airlines such as Easyjet, Ryanair and SAS are causing additional turbulence. According to the German Travel Association (DRV), tour operators would do everything to ensure that booked summer trips take place. “It is rather unlikely that well-booked routes to package holiday destinations around the Mediterranean or to more distant destinations will be canceled on a larger scale,” said a spokeswoman for the DRV.
Read more after the ad
–
Read more after the ad
–
This applies in particular to flights that have been purchased by the organizers long in advance. Tour operators and travel agencies are in close contact with airlines and airports.
How do travelers find out about flight cancellations?
In principle, airlines and tour operators inform their customers if a connection is rescheduled or canceled altogether. If you want to inquire about the flight status yourself, you can enter the flight data in a corresponding search mask at the airline. For some airlines, the departure and destination airports and the date are sufficient, some require the flight number. This is a five to six-digit code that is stored on the ticket or in the booking confirmation. Here is an overview of the most important airlines that take off and land at airports in Germany:
Tuifly does not offer travelers the option of checking the flight status via a search mask. Short-term changes are den Arrival/departure information refer to.
Read more after the ad
–
Read more after the ad
–
If there are any uncertainties, it may be worth calling the airline’s customer hotline. Travelers can find an overview of the most important telephone numbers in this overview.
Download our new RND app for Android and iOS here free of charge
–
