On the eve of the new year, as everyone shows, the dream of the head of the Frankfurt airport, Stefan Schulte, will come true, Deutsche Welle reports in its publication.

The airport manager, i.e. the Fraport company, takes over from the Federal Police the responsibility for checking hand luggage and passengers. Known in Greece for its management of 14 regional airports, the goal of Fraport is to quickly implement the necessary and often annoying controls for passengers. Both Frankfurt Airport and other German airports were already lagging behind in the speed of checks before the start of the pandemic in 2020. While at Germany’s largest airport 80 passengers pass through security per hour, at other relevant international airports such as Amsterdam, this is twice as high.

The airport manager, namely Fraport, takes responsibility for the checks from the Federal Police.

Despite the change of relay at Frankfurt Airport, inspections will continue to be carried out by private security companies on Fraport’s behalf. “Fraport knows procedures better and can make better use of the information it will have, such as flight schedules.”

Verdi is not yet worried about increased pressure on screening and carry-on employees: “Fraport is interested in the smooth operation of the new system,” says Wolfgang Pieper, coordinator of collective bargaining negotiations for a total of 25,000 workers in the industry. With the introduction of an hourly wage of 20 euros, the union’s agenda now includes full-time contracts as well as mandatory wage increases. The biggest problem for employers, of course, is still not to find interested people who want to do this job. In the meantime, Fraport ordered new electronic control systems. In the first quarter of the new year, seven new CT scanners will be put into service, thanks to which passengers will no longer need to remove liquids and electronic devices from their hand luggage, saving valuable time.

The devices in question, which have been in trials since December 2020, use medical technology known from CT scans. According to DW’s article, they have the advantage of being able to capture the contents of hand luggage in a 3D and layered format. They can also detect and separate explosives in both solid and liquid states. Despite changes in the control system, the stated goal of the Federal Police is not to compromise the safety of passengers. Thus, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the German Federal Police are responsible for all checks on passengers and luggage, determining the scope of the checks as well as the machines with which they are carried out. The employees of the security companies carry out checks on Fraport’s behalf, but always in accordance with the rules set by the German federal authorities and under the supervision of the federal police.