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When aeronautical engineer Stefan Dechow looks out of his office window at Hamburg Airport, he sees Terminal 2, which is completely empty. “It's a sad sight,” says the 37-year-old, who became the airport's corona manager overnight a year ago . He heads the group of experts that has been steering the airport through the corona pandemic for more than a year. Because of the virus, the number of passengers has dropped so far that the second terminal has basically been out of operation since autumn 2020 in terms of costs.
Only around ten percent of the otherwise usual passengers are currently getting on a plane in the Hanseatic city. When 10,000 people arrive and depart a day, the team cheers. This year it didn’t exist yet. The take-offs and landings are similarly low at the moment - 36 a day each instead of the usual 200 each. The figures largely match those of other German airports. Nationwide, according to the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry, the numbers were just under ten percent compared to 2019.
This not only has an economic impact.
Due to the corona, 2020 was the worst financial year in post-war history.
The airport wrote a loss of 113 million euros.
A minus of around 90 million is also expected for 2021.
Currently, 83 percent of the almost 2,000 employees are on short-time work and only work around 30 percent of their contractually agreed working hours.
Yawning emptiness and high chairs are also found in many of the rented spaces.
Many bars, bistros, restaurants and shops on the premises have not been open for months.
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Because planes take off and land on a regular basis, the entire infrastructure - from check-in to baggage drop-off and cleaning to work on the tarmac - must be maintained without restrictions.
Only a few passengers wait in the departure area in Terminal 1 at Hamburg Airport - but with a box seat and a view of the parked aircraft of the Condor airline
Source: dpa / Christian Charisius
Aviation engineer and corona manager Stefan Dechow, with a cross-departmental team of experts and his airport colleagues, ensures that everything goes smoothly at Germany's oldest airport - and that everyone is protected from corona.
“Take off” is the name of the project that was actually intended to make the airport fit again for the summer in spring 2020 after the first lockdown.
Nobody in the team thought that it would be summer 2021 at the time.
In the meantime, Hamburg Airport has also been certified by the international airport association Airports Council International with a view to the standard for its corona protection and hygiene measures.
Dechow said that around 100 different points were queried in advance for the independent review.
Almost everything - from the disinfectant dispensers to Plexiglas panes and rectified queues to information posters, home offices and quick tests for employees - had already been set up, glued or installed by the airport.
Long queues tend to form in front of the security check, but during the corona pandemic there is usually a yawning emptiness here too
Source: dpa / Christian Charisius
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“The corona pandemic has definitely made all of us and the airlines very flexible.
What used to take days or weeks now works overnight, ”says Dechow.
In addition, the team has become more relaxed in dealing with bad news or good news from Berlin.
“The situation often changes again within a few days anyway.
You have become more realistic and act more carefully, but also more professionally.
We all got a corona routine. "
However, this also means that the fixed flight schedule, which is otherwise announced twice a year, is now more likely to be adjusted every 14 days.
The airlines plan according to demand and the legal situation.
“Demand depends heavily on entry and quarantine regulations.
The airlines are now planning very sensitively and flexibly. "
The airport nevertheless hopes that the Corona ordinances will not always be changed at such short notice.
“The insecurity of passengers about the rules that have already been changed is the biggest damper when it comes to bookings.
We want more stability in legislation. ”The industry and customers need more reliability and predictability.
“And everyone is hoping and is very keen to vaccinate,” Dechow continued.
The Federal Association of the German Air Transport Industry (BDL) also agrees.
BDL President Peter Gerber recently said, according to the announcement: "Anyone who is verifiably vaccinated or who can show a negative test result should be able to travel freely again and be exempt from quarantine regulations in any case."