Hamburg Airport bracing for higher passenger numbers during mid-term break

18 October 2024

Up to 58,000 daily travellers expected - airport preparing for soaring passenger volumes

Hamburg Airport is gearing up for 370,000 weekly passengers, 58,000 travellers and more than 380 flights on peak days (October 18-20, 2024). Schools across the states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein are taking a mid-term break (October 21 to November 1, 2024) which overlaps with the end of holidays in the states of Lower Saxony and Bremen. Passengers are eyeing holidays in the Canary Islands or international travel via Dubai and Doha.

Hamburg Airport upgrades

"So far, we have had a strong holiday season in spring and summer which went smoothly overall.. We want to give travellers a relaxed start to their holidays this autumn as well," said Katja Bromm, Head of Communications at Hamburg Airport. Demand is expected to increase and passenger numbers could even reach pre-crisis levels. Additional flights will be available. More staff, services and technology will be deployed. The Slot & Fly service, which allows passengers to pass through security faster, will be expanded to 300 bookable slots per hour. The Federal Police will use six state-of-the-art computed tomography (CT) scanners for more efficient security screening. New hand-held scanners will be used to supplement baggage screening machines. Demand for private travel is particularly high with early morning departures proving particularly popular, according to Bromm. Thus, terminals will open at 3:15 a.m. until October 31, while the security checkpoint will be staffed from 3:30 a.m. similar to the Slot & Fly lane. Early evening check-in will continue to help expedite departing passengers.

Rising passenger volumes

Hamburg Airport reached 90 per cent (up from 85 per cent in the past) of the 2019 passenger volume with 1.5 million passengers in September. Passengers can now choose from 55 airlines and over 120 direct destinations.
fw/pb