Whether by train, plane or car: the start of the Easter holidays should have gone as planned for many this weekend. According to the airport’s website, the average waiting time at the terminals at Düsseldorf Airport on Saturday was at times a maximum of 20 minutes. The handling and the security checks were also unproblematic.
A Fraport spokeswoman for Frankfurt Airport reported something similar: “Despite the higher number of passengers, operations are stable and orderly and have been smooth so far.” The airport expects more than 180,000 passengers per day. It was also quiet in Munich.
The airports in Cologne and Düsseldorf are expecting a total of around 1.4 million passengers during the holidays. The destinations of Easter holidaymakers from Düsseldorf are Turkey, Mallorca, Egypt and London. It’s similar at the neighboring airport in Cologne: the most popular travel destinations here are Spain, Turkey and Italy.
Construction sites slow down train traffic
According to a railway spokesman, travel by rail also started smoothly. “We have a lot of activity at our stations, the trains are well utilized,” said the spokesman on Saturday. However, there are no abnormalities in the processes.
The group expects high passenger numbers again over Easter, but sees itself well positioned in terms of capacity. At the large train stations, some additional service staff are on duty to provide support. The influx of new ICE 4 and 3 Neo trains is continuing.
However, some construction sites are also slowing down train traffic over the Easter holidays. In North Rhine-Westphalia in particular, in the Duisburg, Oberhausen and Essen regions as well as at the city tunnel in Frankfurt am Main, passengers have to be prepared for restrictions. The timetable changes are already stored in the system, it said. As predicted by the ADAC, it was noticeably fuller on the motorways and roads in NRW on Saturday, but there were only minor obstructions and only a few traffic jams.