At the weekend there are major problems again at Cologne/Bonn Airport. A dpa reporter stands in line for seven hours before the security check. The police sometimes have to intervene, organize and calm people down. Nevertheless, many guests miss their flights.
Cologne (dpa/lnw) - At Cologne/Bonn Airport there were again major problems with the handling of the numerous passengers this weekend. In front of the security areas, queues sometimes formed several hundred meters up to the terminals. A dpa reporter stood in line for seven hours in front of the security check on Saturday. Lucky in misfortune: His flight was delayed - and he still reached the plane. A number of passengers were unlucky: they missed their planes and had to reschedule.
The long waiting times caused such displeasure and aggression the day before that the Cologne police had to step up their presence and intervene in a orderly and calming manner. According to him, a Dutch passenger was with his family at the terminal shortly after 7 a.m. on Saturday. He still didn't make his flight at 11:30 a.m. - and then had to queue again to get his already checked-in suitcases back.
Even getting to the airport was a problem for many travelers because numerous S-Bahn and regional trains in the Rhineland were canceled this weekend due to a lack of staff.
"We have found that in our local area of responsibility - the area in front of the security locks - the queues have become extremely long. And in individual cases there are attempts to enter the security area without authorization," Cologne police spokesman Christoph Gillen reported to WDR. "We have to stop that. Accordingly, we have strengthened our security forces there in order to solve the corresponding problems." In concrete terms, this means that those who were in front were fished out and referred to the end of the queue.
According to the police, several passengers were noticed by loud or aggressive behavior on Friday evening. Therefore, officials were on site to "ensure that everything runs smoothly". On Saturday morning there were again extremely long waiting times at the security checkpoints. According to a spokesman for the federal police, it was about four to five hours.
However, the high demand for travel after the Corona lull does not come as a surprise. The problems were already great on the holidays in May with Ascension Day and Pentecost. The situation worsened during the NRW summer holidays.
The neighboring federal states of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate also started their long holidays this weekend. Many illness-related failures, among other things due to the increased number of corona infections and the already large shortage of staff in the industry, coupled with high passenger numbers at peak times, are the main causes of the conditions.
