Surge of passengers expected again Cologne/Bonn Airport plans to increase personnel capacities in the short term
Cologne · The shortage of staff in the air transport sector is leading to a war of nerves for people who are longing to go on their summer vacations. In view of the shortage of staff at security checkpoints, federal police officers are now stepping in. At Cologne Airport, capacities are already being increased for the weekend.
As a consequence of hours of waiting times and long lines of travelers last weekend, Federal Police are increasing their capacity at Cologne/Bonn Airport at short notice. By Monday, two additional lanes are to be set up at the security checkpoint, the Federal Police announced in St. Augustin on Thursday.
Cologne/Bonn Airport seeks additional security service contractor
Besides that, a second security service provider is being sought on a temporary basis. This will take a little time, however as bids can be submitted until July 31. The controls are being outsourced by the Federal Police to an external company. During the coming vacation weekend, around 110,000 passengers are expected again from Friday to Sunday. The airport is the second largest in NRW after Düsseldorf and is used by many to start out on their vacations.
Düsseldorf is preparing for 63,000 passengers on Saturday and 65,000 on Sunday. Here, too, the lack of staff at peak times leads to waiting times and queues. The airport is trying to counter this by increasing the services provided by university students and rerouting passengers depending on how the security controls are staffed.
Hundreds of travelers missed their flights at Cologne/Bonn Airport
Last weekend, the security checkpoint at Cologne/Bonn Airport was the bottleneck. In some cases, not even half of the necessary lanes were open, the airport reported. Travelers had to wait for hours, hundreds missed their flights.
Should the situation there come to a head again, the federal police also want to deploy their own officers. They could be deployed as air marshals or to help at the obligatory aviation security check, in which passengers and their hand luggage are checked for weapons or dangerous objects. This was already the case last weekend, a spokeswoman for the federal police said.
(Orig. text: dpa / Translation: ck)
