Joint directors of Hamburg Airport outline plans

Hamburg Airport has invested in both new employees and technical solutions e.g., the "Tag-O-Mat" to handle brisk summer business. Travellers have checked in their luggage at machines since 2017 and in December, the millionth suitcase was handed in at one of the more than 20 self-bag drop machines. "Luggage can now be scanned manually and labels printed at the new Tag-O-Mat. The two machines should speed up the check-in process considerably," said Berit Schmitz in an interview with Hamburg News in the Lilienthal Building on her 100th day as Managing Director. Although Kunsch is officially Chair of the Board, both act as dual managers. "We work hand in hand," Kunsch stressed. 

Businesses in Hamburg have expressed a wish for more direct flights from Hamburg Airport. Around 55 airlines now fly direct to 120 destinations from Hamburg Airport and to Doha  since July 1, 2024. Qatar Airways is operating the non-stop flight to Doha from where passengers can fly to more than 170 long-haul destinations worldwide. Hopes for other direct flights e.g., a non-stop Hamburg to New York flight are pinned on the new Airbus A321XLR, which could make the 6,000-kilometre flight viable thanks to its improved range and payload. However,  technical improvements alone do not suffice, experts say. "The problem is capacity utilisation and especially on the return flight. Hamburg is not as well-known as we would like it to be as a destination in the United States and Asia. An aircraft that is well-filled in only one direction is not economical," said Kunsch. More advertising campaigns would make the city better known internationally and cites the great image boost from the Euro 2024. "Hamburg successfully presented itself as a good host and cosmopolitan city."

The airport also presented itself successfully during the championships. Problems such as long queues at the security checkpoints or during check-in did not occur after more than 40 measures were developed to keep disruptions to a minimum. The managing directors prioritise such measures together. Prior to her new role at Hamburg Airport, Schmitz was a member of management at Hanover Airport and Managing Director of Mainzer Verkehrsgesellschaft, while Kunsch has been Managing Director of Hamburg Airport since 2019 and has spent his entire career in aviation.

The work involved upgrading escalators, revolving doors, lifts, toilets, new water dispensers and around 60 massage chairs for improved passenger comfort. The airport plans to spend more than EUR 15 million through 2027 on technical and service improvements to reduce waiting times. The free Slot & Fly contingency, which can be booked in advance to get through security quickly, has been increased by 50 per cent. New CT scanners and improved software are speeding up the procedure. "The scanners detect liquids or electronic devices in suitcases. Travellers no longer have to unpack their hand luggage, which saves a lot of time during the security check," said Kunsch, and the measures are working. He noted: "We recently had to process 3,000 passengers in an hour and the wait was less than 15 minutes."

"Yes, our summer flights should run smoothly, provided nothing unusual happens," said Kunsch. "However, if there are heavy rains of a completely new magnitude, such as we had in Hamburg in late June or in Dubai in April, this will definitely affect our operations." And even a a global IT outage that caused major disruption to air traffic worldwide on Friday (July 19, 2024) has not dampened their optimism. Although Hamburg Airport's systems were not hit, the flight schedule was disrupted, but stabilised the next day.

Staff shortages remain the biggest challenge and probably after the summer season as well, Schmitz said. "The wave of retiring baby boomers is rolling and we simply cannot replace all those employees." Thus, the airport is turning to digitalisation and automation. "We are testing, for instance, robots. They take over as soon as the luggage has been loaded onto the trolleys from the aircraft and lift the suitcases and bags onto the carousels themselves," Schmitz said, adding: "And I'm pinning my hopes on artificial intelligence, e.g., in terms of optimised passenger flow management, taking the new AI law of course into account."
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