Germany's largest airport, Frankfurt am Main, wants to further reduce capacity. In the coming week, a corresponding application is to be submitted to air traffic control, which will result in the reduction of the maximum values ​​for flight movements. Lufthansa welcomed the project in a broadcast.

Operator Fraport explains, among other things, that this measure is intended to stabilize flight operations. As a first measure, the so-called coordination reference value has already been reduced from 106 to 96 flight movements per hour. Now there should be only 88 take-offs or landings as soon as possible.

The aim is to handle fewer aircraft, especially during rush hours. Due to acute staff shortages, which cannot be remedied in the short term, there are regular bottlenecks. As a result, the machines in Frankfurt are delayed because there are no staff available for loading and unloading and other services. There are also often long waiting times at the security checkpoints.

Furthermore, Fraport AG wants to ensure that other airlines in addition to Lufthansa noticeably reduce their offer and also shift some flights to the less used off-peak times. The Kranich Group has already canceled more than 6.000 flights from Munich and Frankfurt that were planned for July and August 2022. The trend is rising, because it was only announced this week that one once again applied the red pencil.

For status, first and business class customers, using Frankfurt am Main Airport can also be associated with inconveniences, because Fraport AG will temporarily no longer offer a security fast lane. This step is justified, among other things, by the fact that the intention is to relieve the tense situation.

"In the past few weeks, we have already canceled flights in several waves to relieve the load on the entire system. This disappointed many thousands of customers, caused enormous additional work for our employees and additional costs in the millions. Since the already increased capacities of the ground handling services in Frankfurt are not yet sufficient for the flight schedule, which has been reduced several times due to high sickness rates, Fraport's decision today is correct. Other airlines flying to and from Frankfurt will now also contribute to an even reduction and stabilization by canceling flights," explains Jens Ritter, Chief Executive Officer of Lufthansa Airlines, in an initial reaction.