Security bottlenecks expected Cologne/Bonn Airport Passengers can book time slots

Berlin/Bonn · The airports are expecting a rush of travellers at Easter. At the same time, they are still plagued by staff problems, such as at check-in. Here are some tips to avoid queues at the counters.

Passengers queued for several hundred metres for the security check at Cologne/Bonn Airport last summer.

Passengers queued for several hundred metres for the security check at Cologne/Bonn Airport last summer.

Foto: dpa/Thomas Banneyer

Shortly before the start of the Easter holidays in most federal states and the associated travel traffic, German airports are plagued by staffing problems. The industry has been trying for months to find new staff, especially for ground services such as check-in and loading and unloading. And there is also a shortage of security staff. So things could get tight on the coming weekends, which are among the busiest of the year.

"Our companies have prepared intensively for the upcoming travel season, hired additional staff and optimised processes in many places," says Matthias von Randow, Managing Director of the German Air Transport Association (BDL). But: "On the days of the start of the holidays, travellers should plan for more time, because on these days there may be queues at the security checks despite great efforts by the Federal Police and their service providers."

114,000 passengers expected at Cologne/Bonn over the Easter weekend

Cologne/Bonn Airport is expecting 114,000 passengers over the Easter weekend. The airport announced on Wednesday that the peak holiday day would be Friday, 14 April. More than 30,000 travellers are expected to take off and land in Cologne/Bonn then. At Düsseldorf Airport, around 900,000 passengers are expected over the entire Easter holidays, which is 15 per cent more than a year ago. One good thing is that there will probably be no strikes at the airports. The industry is still suffering from the consequences of the Corona pandemic. At its peak, flight operations were drastically curtailed. Airports, airlines and service providers who, for example, provide staff for loading and unloading the machines, sent employees on short-time work or laid them off. Many looked for other work. When the travel restrictions were lifted, German citizens were again drawn to faraway places, the number of flights increased, but staff was hard to find.

Last summer, holidaymakers queued for hours at check-in, planes took off with new passengers but the suitcases from the previous flight, luggage piled up.

„To be able to jet off, travellers have to be prepared for waiting times at the security checkpoints." Since last year, airports have been trying to improve these. The Federal Police are usually responsible for them, but they have them done by private companies, so there are always coordination problems. Frankfurt took over the controls at the beginning of the year.

For some months now, Cologne/Bonn Airport has made it possible for passengers to book a time slot for the security check on the internet from 72 hours to one hour before departure; the service is called "CGNGateway". There is also a new control centre where all partners at the airport physically sit together. This should also help avoid traffic jams at the security checkpoints.

(Original text: Björn Hartmann, Reinhard Kowalewsky and Ulla Thiede; Translation: Mareike Graepel)

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