Frankfurt Airport: "Where can I let my dog ​​pee?"

Suddenly they are back, the travelers.

The sound of suitcases rolling on the terminal floor echoes through the departure hall from all sides.

Just in time for the start of the holidays in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate, Frankfurt Airport is busier than it has been for a long time.

Experienced airport employees instruct excited air travelers in the new rules of travel.

Because travel has changed after a year and a half of the pandemic.

“People are just not used to it anymore,” says the employee at an airport information desk in a hoarse voice. She doesn't have much time to take a breath; the next questioner is already standing in front of her. “Where can I let my dog ​​pee?” “How do I get to Terminal 2?” “Our flight has been canceled, what do we do now?” The woman has to answer travelers' questions all the time. Already at 10 in the morning she no longer has a voice, while the queue in front of the counter is getting longer.

People are not always prepared, she says.

Corona tests, quarantine rules, constant new information about the risk areas - vacationers nowadays have to do their homework, says Christian Engel from the press service of Fraport AG.

"We still appeal to travelers to have travel documents on hand," he says.

Everything that can be done at home, such as online check-ins, should also be done there in order to avoid waiting times.

Well prepared for the onslaught

As soon as they enter the terminal, airport employees stand by and point travelers in the appropriate direction.

They are well prepared for the rush to start the holiday.

The number of trips rose again at the start of the holiday, but the numbers had already climbed continuously in the weeks before that.

For the first time since the beginning of the corona pandemic, more than 80,000 passengers traveled through the airport over two days in June.

On the past weekends there were then 100,000 passengers a day.

At the start of the holiday, it should now be 120,000 on both days of the weekend, says Engel.

With this, Fraport is taking a big step towards normalcy after the Corona year.

But the pre-crisis level is still far from being reached.

The airport company posted record numbers in 2019.

240,000 passengers passed the airport daily in the summer months of the year, twice as many as this year.

It was not long ago that photos of empty departure lounges went through the country, pictures of aircraft parked in rows adorned the front pages. “People came just to look at the empty departure lounges and to take photos,” says Marta Modric. She works in a pharmacy in Terminal 1, one of the few shops that was always open last year. Business is slowly picking up speed here. But many of the shops are still closed and only a few tourists find their way to the shopping street.

In the departure hall, on the other hand, distance controllers walk along the long lines.

The travelers should keep a distance of two meters from one another.

“The people are friendly and excited,” says a happy inspector.

The employees are delighted that the airport is filling itself with life again.

And the vacationers are also relieved to finally be able to travel again, she says.

Julia Griess and Anne K. are standing outside the terminal. The luggage has already been handed in, and they hold the last cigarette between their fingers before departure.

Actually, they should have been here almost exactly a year ago.

It would have been the last cigarette before a trip to Africa, but it never took place.

Instead of Tanzania, it is now going to Greece, which has just been put back on the list of risk areas.

This will probably not have any effect on their trip, because they are both vaccinated.

With the vaccinations, the holidaymakers' feeling of security also seems to have increased again, and a tour group from the Frankfurt area is not worried about Corona either.

You are flying to Croatia and will spend your vacation there with 17 men on a boat.

“We are all to ourselves there,” says a woman from Frankfurt.

Despite the vaccination, they want to stick to regular corona tests when they come back.

Delta fear returns

For many travelers, tests and quarantine regulations will continue to be part of vacation planning.

Because in addition to the number of passengers at the airport, the number of infections in Germany and many other countries has risen again.

With the delta variant, the fear of another lockdown also returns.

Nobody wants that here at the airport.

You have to learn to live with the virus, and also to travel, you can hear from many employees.

And safe travel is possible under the Corona rules, says Christian Engel from the press service.

Tourism is well prepared for this, and following the rules is second nature to many travelers, he says.

At the end of the departure lounge, police officers pull a barrier tape.

A lonely suitcase was found and needs to be checked.

A short time later you can roll up the tape again and the suitcase ends up in the lost property office.

A few meters further on, two men are lying on the baggage carousel, sleeping.

“We've been here since four in the morning,” complains a woman loudly. Words like “staff” and “strike” still echo afterwards. Three counters down, a lady from the ground staff gives two travelers their passports. “Have a good trip,” she says. Everyday life at the airport seems to have returned. Actually everything is here as usual.