The Easter holidays are just around the corner and with them the first big wave of travel in 2024. The main airports have already explained what volumes can be expected. They also reveal which are the most popular destinations.
The Easter holidays bring the first big wave of travel of the year and that will be a test for airports. This year they started on March 18 in Bremen, Hamburg and Lower Saxony. In Saxony the holidays begin on March 28, in Schleswig-Holstein on April 2.
In the other eleven German federal states, the Easter holidays start next weekend: Baden-Württemberg starts on Saturday (March 23), the others do not officially start until Monday (March 25). For airports, holidays count from Friday (March 22).
Munich
From March 22 to April 7, airlines registered around 14,100 flights to 184 destinations at Munich Airport. In the first holiday weekend alone, from Friday to Sunday, almost 2,400 planes will take off and land and more than 300,000 travelers are expected. In total, the second largest German airport expects a volume of almost two million passengers during the Easter holidays. The planes take off almost 1,800 times to a total of 42 destinations in France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. On the long-haul route, a total of 340 aircraft take off to 15 destinations in the US and Canada. About 230 times he goes to Asia.
Berlin-Brandenburg
During the Christmas season, from March 22 to April 7, 66 airlines will take off from the German capital airport to 134 destinations in 48 countries. The busiest day is expected to be April 5, 2024 with up to 84,000 travelers. In addition to European metropolises, the most popular destinations are in the countries of the Mediterranean region. In total, BER expects to receive up to 1.2 million passengers during the holidays.
Dusseldorf
The largest airport in North Rhine-Westphalia is expecting almost 165,000 travelers this weekend at the start of the Easter holidays. In total, Düsseldorf Airport expects around 880,000 passengers between March 22 and April 7, which corresponds to a four percent increase compared to last year's Easter holidays. The main tourist destinations are Mallorca, Antalya, Hurghada, the Canary Islands, as well as Dubai, Doha, Istanbul and London.
Cologne/Bonn
Cologne/Bonn Airport expects a total of around 460,000 passengers from March 22, the last day of school, to April 7 inclusive. For the first holiday weekend from Friday to Sunday, around 77,000 passengers are expected. During the Easter weekend, from Good Friday to Easter Monday inclusive, there are around 107,000. During the last holiday weekend, around 97,000 travelers are expected to use the airport from Friday to Sunday. The peak day of the holiday is Friday, April 5, when more than 33,000 passengers take off and land in Cologne/Bonn. The most popular tourist destination during the Easter holidays is Spain with around 110,000 travelers (including around 49,000 to Mallorca), ahead of Turkey (around 100,000), Great Britain (38,000) and Italy (37,000).
Paderborn/Lippstadt
Paderborn/Lippstadt Airport expects to receive more than 30,000 passengers in the two weeks before Easter. The destinations Antalya and Palma de Mallorca are especially popular. Flights to the new destination Girona begin on Easter Sunday.
Dortmund
Dortmund airport expects around 140,000 travelers during the two-week Easter holidays. Palma de Mallorca and Antalya are served with special frequency. During the holidays we travel to the Spanish Mediterranean island up to four times a day from Dortmund.
Other airports, including Germany's largest airport Frankfurt, had not yet published any Easter forecasts at the time of publication of this article. As soon as they do, we will add this information here and update the article.