The Easter holidays are just around the corner and with them the first big wave of travel in 2024. The major airports have now explained what volumes can be expected. They also reveal what the most popular destinations are.
The Easter holidays bring the first big wave of travel of the year and that will be a test for the airports. This year they started in Bremen, Hamburg and Lower Saxony on March 18th. In Saxony the holidays start on March 28th, in Schleswig-Holstein on April 2nd.
In all other eleven German federal states, the Easter holidays begin next weekend – Baden-Württemberg starts on Saturday (March 23rd), the others officially only start on Monday (March 25th). For airports, holidays count from Friday (March 22nd).
Munich
For the period from March 22nd to April 7th, around 14,100 flights to 184 destinations were registered by the airlines at Munich Airport. On the first holiday weekend alone from Friday to Sunday, almost 2,400 aircraft will take off and land and over 300,000 travelers are expected. Overall, the second largest German airport is expecting a volume of almost two million passengers during the Easter holidays. 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 USA and Canada. Around 230 times it goes to Asia.
Berlin-Brandenburg
During the holiday season from March 22nd to April 7th, 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 the European metropolises, the most popular destinations are in the countries of the Mediterranean region. In total, BER expects 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. Overall, Düsseldorf Airport expects around 880,000 passengers between March 22nd and April 7th, which corresponds to an increase of four percent compared to the Easter holidays last year. Top travel destinations are Mallorca, Antalya, Hurghada, the Canary Islands as well as Dubai, Doha, Istanbul and London.
Cologne/Bonn
Cologne/Bonn Airport is expecting a total of around 460,000 passengers from March 22nd, the last day of school, up to and including April 7th. Around 77,000 passengers are forecast for the first holiday weekend from Friday to Sunday. Over the Easter weekend – from Good Friday to Easter Monday inclusive – there are around 107,000. On the last holiday weekend, around 97,000 travelers are expected to use the airport from Friday to Sunday. The peak day of the holidays is Friday, April 5th, when more than 33,000 passengers take off and land in Cologne/Bonn. The most popular travel 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 is expecting more than 30,000 passengers in the two weeks surrounding Easter. The destinations Antalya and Palma de Mallorca are particularly popular. Flights to the new destination Girona start on Easter Sunday.
Dortmund
Dortmund Airport is expecting around 140,000 travelers during the two-week Easter holidays. Palma de Mallorca and Antalya are particularly frequently served. During the holidays, we travel to the Spanish Mediterranean island up to four times a day from Dortmund.
Other airports, including the largest German airport in Frankfurt, had not yet published any Easter forecasts as of the publication of this article. As soon as they do, we will add this information here and update the article.