Berlin/Frankfurt
When it started up again after the Corona lull, European air traffic crunched heavily in 2022. Especially in Germany, many planes were unpunctual. There is hardly any improvement in sight.
According to a survey, civil air traffic in Europe was again very late last year. Despite a thinned out flight schedule, 244 million passengers were affected by delays and short-term cancellations, according to data analysis by the air passenger rights portal Airhelp.
With a total of 795 million passengers carried, this corresponds to almost 31 percent. For comparison: In the last year before the Corona crisis in 2019, the proportion of 1.125 billion guests was only 24 percent.
Flight problems especially in the summer months
“The summer in particular showed that the airports and airlines were not prepared for the increase in air travel after the pandemic,” explained Airhelp boss Tomasz Pawliszyn. According to the study, up to 40 percent of passengers had to deal with flight problems in the summer months. Other causes of delays were strikes and unfavorable weather.
There is no improvement in sight for 2023, said Pawliszyn: “We assume that this negative trend will continue this year. As in many other sectors, the shortage of skilled workers continues to be a serious problem that hinders flight operations. There are also staff strikes, which also lead to delays.”
German airports fare poorly
The German airports do not play a good role in the statistics for 2022: According to Airhelp, only in the Netherlands (37 percent) and Great Britain (36 percent) were there proportionately more delayed passengers than in Germany (36 percent). With 43 percent of passengers affected, Frankfurt was the third least punctual airport in Europe after Corfu and Manchester.
Flights that took off more than 15 minutes after the scheduled time were rated as unpunctual. Connections that were canceled in the week before the scheduled start were considered failures.
In the event of delays and last-minute cancellations, passengers are entitled to assistance and compensation after certain deadlines. Airhelp and other Internet service providers bundle such claims and enforce them for a fee.
