Germany’s two largest hubs are forecasting their busiest festive season since 2019, underscoring the post-pandemic rebound in leisure and visiting-friends-and-relatives (VFR) traffic. Fraport expects 3.6 million passengers between 19 December 2025 and 11 January 2026, with today, 20 December, set to hit a single-day high of 178,000. Munich Airport projects almost two million passengers over a similar window.
Airport operators have re-opened seasonal gates, redeployed HQ staff to security lanes and coordinated with the Bundespolizei to add extra EES kiosks for non-EU travellers. Nevertheless, they urge passengers to arrive at least two hours early for intra-Schengen flights and three hours for long-haul departures.
For travellers who still need to clarify visa or entry requirements before arriving at the airport, VisaHQ can simplify the process. Through its Germany portal (https://www.visahq.com/germany/), the service provides up-to-date guidance on EES regulations, visa categories and document checklists, helping passengers resolve paperwork quickly so they can concentrate on navigating the busy holiday terminals.
![Frankfurt and Munich Brace for Record Holiday Passenger Volumes]()
The surge coincides with Deutsche Bahn’s annual timetable change, which adds capacity on key trunk routes but also compresses overnight engineering works, increasing the risk of knock-on delays. Corporate mobility teams should advise flexible travel dates, secure rail seat reservations in advance and issue digital parking passes to staff driving to the airport.
From a duty-of-care standpoint, companies should activate real-time alerting so travellers can re-route quickly if weather or congestion disrupts schedules. Forecasts indicate possible snow in southern Germany on 23–24 December, a factor that could exacerbate already tight ground-handling operations.
While airport executives celebrate the demand rebound, they acknowledge that 2025’s EES learning curve and patchy staffing levels mean true pre-COVID efficiency may not return until summer 2026.
Airport operators have re-opened seasonal gates, redeployed HQ staff to security lanes and coordinated with the Bundespolizei to add extra EES kiosks for non-EU travellers. Nevertheless, they urge passengers to arrive at least two hours early for intra-Schengen flights and three hours for long-haul departures.
For travellers who still need to clarify visa or entry requirements before arriving at the airport, VisaHQ can simplify the process. Through its Germany portal (https://www.visahq.com/germany/), the service provides up-to-date guidance on EES regulations, visa categories and document checklists, helping passengers resolve paperwork quickly so they can concentrate on navigating the busy holiday terminals.
The surge coincides with Deutsche Bahn’s annual timetable change, which adds capacity on key trunk routes but also compresses overnight engineering works, increasing the risk of knock-on delays. Corporate mobility teams should advise flexible travel dates, secure rail seat reservations in advance and issue digital parking passes to staff driving to the airport.
From a duty-of-care standpoint, companies should activate real-time alerting so travellers can re-route quickly if weather or congestion disrupts schedules. Forecasts indicate possible snow in southern Germany on 23–24 December, a factor that could exacerbate already tight ground-handling operations.
While airport executives celebrate the demand rebound, they acknowledge that 2025’s EES learning curve and patchy staffing levels mean true pre-COVID efficiency may not return until summer 2026.
