High sickness rate causes chaos at BER airport
It is not the weather or a storm, but a high sickness rate among ground staff that is causing hours of delays at BER Airport. Arrivals are also experiencing delays, according to reports. Flights are delayed by up to eight hours.
Anyone wanting to fly home or on vacation over Christmas had to allow for a lot of waiting time at the capital's BER airport near Berlin. Many flights were delayed for hours in some cases.
The reason for the delays in aircraft take-offs was a high sickness rate and the associated staff shortage at ground handling service provider Swissport, a spokeswoman for the airport told broadcaster RBB. There have been delays of up to three hours since 1 pm.
The delays in arrivals, however, were due to the weather. It had previously been reported that a software error was to blame for the delays.
For example, the airport website showed that a flight to Lanzarote was not due to take off until 8.20 p.m. instead of 12 noon. A flight to Helsinki was not due to take off until 8.45pm instead of 1.05pm. Other connections showed delays of around one to two hours.
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Despite the high sickness rate among ground staff at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), international travelers still aim to fly home or go on vacation. Many flights from BER around Berlin were delayed due to this, causing significant disruption for vacationers.
Source: www.ntv.de
