Shortly before the Easter holidays, the transport ministers of the federal states will be discussing smoother passenger checks at airports next week. The federal states have proposed that the federal government transfer responsibility for security checks to the airports, said the chairman of the conference of transport ministers, North Rhine-Westphalia’s department head Oliver Krischer (Greens), the German press agency in Düsseldorf. The federal government has now basically cleared the way for this.
The current state of affairs will be discussed at the two-day conference in the middle of the week (March 22/23) in Aachen. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) will also take part in the conference, said Krischer.
In recent years – with the exception of Bavaria – the federal government has been responsible for passenger checks at airports. In the years of the corona pandemic, however, it turned out that the structures of the federal police could not cope with the onslaught of passengers. This led to ugly scenes and long waiting times, especially during holiday periods. Changes are now possible, so that such situations will no longer have to arise in the future, said Krischer.
Which airports are interested in self-steering?
The Frankfurt airport operator Fraport has been controlling the deployment of private security forces itself since the turn of the year; the Federal Police is still in charge of security policy supervision. The Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Hanover and Stuttgart airports, among others, have also expressed an interest in controlling the passenger controls themselves, reported the chairman of the conference of transport ministers.
In addition to the 49-euro ticket, numerous other topics are on the agenda. Among other things, cities need more freedom of action in designating 30 km/h zones and in financing public transport. An alliance of 400 cities requires more flexibility, said Krischer.
Lots of questions to be answered about the 49-euro ticket
After the Bundestag created the legal basis for a 49-euro ticket, numerous other questions remained to be clarified in the VMK, said Krischer. Uniform procedures are also desirable in the tariff structure for the Germany ticket – for example with the student ticket or the question of how to take bicycles with you.
The 49-euro ticket is to be valid in local transport throughout Germany from May 1st. A digitally bookable, monthly terminable subscription is planned. Actually, the Deutschlandticket does not allow other people, animals or bicycles to be taken along – in some regions, however, the transport associations want to allow this or offer special additional tickets that are then only valid there.
