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Cologne-Bonn Airport 2022: Can it get any worse?
Photo: Christoph Hardt / Panama Pictures / IMAGO
If you want to go on holiday this summer, you have to be prepared for a strenuous journey. "The demand for flights is coming back with full force after the pandemic," says aviation expert Heinrich Großbongardt. The result: "Nothing good can be expected for the summer. Many people won't experience a relaxing, orderly flight to their holidays."
The first problems are already emerging. On Ascension Day and Pentecost, customers have already experienced hours of waiting, for example in front of security checks. In addition, numerous airlines use leased aircraft and crews, Großbongardt describes – also because they themselves lack the specialist staff.
Now the fact that airlines such as Lufthansa and airport operators such as Fraport in Frankfurt am Main laid off thousands of employees at the beginning of the pandemic is apparently taking revenge. The demand for holiday travel is likely to be even higher than in the chaos summer of 2022, when numerous flights were already cancelled and lost luggage piled up in airport halls.
On the Friday before Pentecost, the online portal Flightradar24 recorded around 255,000 flights worldwide – more than ever before. At times, around 22,000 aircraft were in the air at the same time, also an all-time record. Destinations such as Italy or Slovenia are expecting the largest tourist rush in their history this year.
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