Permanent chaos at airports
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More than two hours waiting time before security checks
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Long queues also formed in front of the check-in counters at Düsseldorf Airport on Saturday.
Photo: dpa/Thomas Banneyer
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Düsseldorf /Köln At the weekend, passenger handling was again very slow. The federal police had to help out with the controls at Cologne/Bonn Airport at times. Experts fear that the situation will worsen due to acute staff shortages.
The third holiday weekend again demanded a lot of patience from air travelers in NRW. This time Cologne/Bonn Airport was particularly affected. There, passengers were already queuing late Friday evening in front of the security checkpoints, and the queue stretched from terminal to terminal outside the building. At times, the waiting time was two hours or more, explained Verdi union secretary Özay Tarim. A similar picture emerged on Saturday morning, with queues several hundred meters long. At Düsseldorf Airport, too, people had to wait in front of the security checks on Saturday morning. On Sunday afternoon, the line of people waiting stretched from Pier B to Pier A. Estimated waiting time: one hour. A spokesman said there was no chaos. Tarim sees it differently. “An attempt is now being made to play down the disaster with quibbles,” says the aviation expert. “But what is that but chaos when travelers stand from one terminal to another?”
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Due to the high number of passengers, the federal police also had to intervene to support the controls on Friday. Jens Floren, spokesman for the federal police, said ten officials helped out with the briefing and the luggage return. Such assignments are the exception and only intended as a last resort to cope with particularly large crowds. In the past week it is the second time that the officials have been called in to carry out the security checks. From Tarim’s point of view, the intervention of the federal police shows that the solution to the personnel crisis in the security sector was miscalculated. “It’s sad that the state first put the control tasks in private hands and now has to support them with auxiliary activities,” says Tarim. “The passengers have to pay for this dilemma.”
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The unclear mixed situation causes great uncertainty among holidaymakers. In order to be on the plane in time, many travelers said they had come to the airport up to eight hours earlier on Friday. This “new phenomenon” makes the situation even more confusing, said a spokesman for the federal police. Passengers should also ensure that they only have permitted items in their hand luggage. “You can’t blame the passengers if you didn’t hire staff in time,” says Tarim. Vacationers were asked to come to the airports earlier. Then these would also have to be processed at the counters. He recommends arriving three to three and a half hours before departure. However, several flights were canceled again at the weekend.
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Tarim does not expect the situation to ease for the time being. In the next few weeks, the situation in North Rhine-Westphalia could even worsen, because the summer holidays are also starting in the Netherlands and many Dutch people want to fly from Düsseldorf on vacation. In addition, according to Tarim, the sick leave among security personnel is currently around 20 percent due to the high workload. However, there will not be any relief from foreign helpers any time soon. These would first have to go through a background check that lasts six to eight weeks and then be trained for weeks. Tarim: “I don’t think that will happen this summer.” He assumes that the situation will be chaotic until the end of September, because after the summer holidays, vacationers traditionally travel without children.
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There were also problems at other airports. At Hamburg Airport, passengers had to wait around 90 minutes for their security check, as a spokesman for the federal police said. According to the information, the longest waiting times in the morning were between 4 and 5 a.m. To her knowledge, no one missed their plane, said an airport spokeswoman. Summer holidays are already here in Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Lower Saxony will follow on July 14th. The processes at Frankfurt Airport were also delayed again, in some cases considerably. According to the airport operator Fraport, there were sometimes long waiting times – especially at baggage claim.
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