Air travel prepares for a substantial surge in holiday-bound trips
Summer air travel is gearing up to match pre-pandemic levels, aviation specialists predict. Airports plan to gear up to manage potential pandemonium. Terminal reservations and CT scans will hopefully lessen the stress during security screenings.
German airports are bracing for their next trial: with summer vacation season kick-off, the infrastructure affected during the pandemic will be put to the test, necessitating the handling of near pre-pandemic levels of passengers. "No more chaos" is the aspiration of the involved companies and authorities, following the unpleasant experiences from the years 2021 and 2022.
"Passengers should make it a point to arrive at their departure terminal 2 to 2.5 hours prior to departure," Ralph Beisel from the Airport Association ADV sets the requirements. Airlines are grappling with high demand for their limited services, as many people are keen to travel despite the economic slowdown. "It will be another extremely busy summer travel season," Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr had already stated at the end of April when warm-season bookings surpassed the previous year's value by 16 percent. For the airlines, this situation means substantial profit growth, but for customers, it continues to mean steep ticket prices.
Limited impact from FTI bankruptcy
The bankruptcy of tour operator FTI will have minimal economic impact on them, assure Eurowings and Condor, major providers of holiday flights. The vacant seats on the planes will soon be filled by other tour operators and short-term providers. In terms of European air travel, just as much flying will take place in the upcoming summer as in the pre-pandemic year 2019. Eurocontrol, the air traffic control organization for the continent, only registers insignificant deviations below the target for the entire continent.
In Germany, the decrease in revenue is only 13% compared to pre-pandemic levels. The reason is the cancellation of domestic flights and the wide detour that discount airlines like Ryanair are taking around the local market due to high fees and costs. German airports, according to industry association BDL data, will still offer around 6% more seating capacity from May to October than in the same period last year. "Our companies have worked closely with the authorities and police departments, hired additional staff, and optimized processes at many places," says BDL managing director Matthias von Randow.
"There were no major disruptions during the Easter travel period. Travelers could enjoy their vacations without excessive waiting times." Lufthansa hired 1100 new employees and feels generally well-prepared for the summer holidays. Similar statements come from airport operator Fraport, who also refers to the summer 2023 and the Easter and Pentecost travel waves, which were handled successfully. A spokesperson expects a regulated operation with the usual waiting times for the holiday season, which can be quickly dismantled. Delays will be kept to a minimum.
In the airspace over Germany, air traffic has once again become rather cramped, according to the German air traffic control (DFS). Even though this year's numbers will still surpass the record numbers from the year 2019, the flights are no longer evenly distributed as before, as DFS CEO Arndt Schoenemann describes. Particularly at weekends, flights are clustering at tourist destinations. As a result, air traffic controllers in airport towers and centers must be deployed much more flexibly. This seems to be effective: In the first half of the year, the air traffic control caused 50% fewer delays than in the previous yearly period. On average, it took only 0.36 minutes per flight.
The beginning of the German school holiday season is marked by Saxony and Thuringia on June 20. Then, relatively quickly, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Bremen follow. In the other states, the school holidays begin in July, and Bavaria is the last to return home on September 9. Useful advice for travelers comes from all responsible parties. After all, passengers can contribute a lot to a smooth trip themselves. Airports and airlines are relying on digital offerings.
Liquids and electronics can stay in the luggage
Check-in and parking lots can often be handled by automated machines and a parking space can be booked in advance. Check-in via smartphone saves unnecessary waiting at the counter. However, the passenger control for safety reasons remains. In previous summers, there were long queues, for example in Cologne or Düsseldorf. According to the Airport Association ADV, passengers can now book a time window for the disliked control procedure at least at seven German airports.
The Frankfurt operator Fraport has taken over the planning of the services of private security service providers itself and has also invested in technology. Forty scanners with the technology known from medicine, computer tomography, will be available at Germany's largest airport this summer. Munich also has several of these devices, which illuminate the luggage in several layers and create three-dimensional images of the contents of the luggage in a short time. This allows liquids and electronics to stay in the hand luggage - time-consuming and cumbersome handling at the control counter is eliminated.
