The airport chaplain experienced this in the current flight chaos
Hanover Langenhagen. The passenger was desperate. Lufthansa had canceled her flight to Frankfurt at short notice, but the woman had complied with the airline’s request and checked in her suitcase the night before so that everything went faster in the morning. Now he was already in the security area and initially not to be found. “She was close to tears, because a suitcase is more than a piece of luggage – it’s something very personal,” says Karl-Martin Harms.
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Airport chaplain at HAJ: Flight chaos has been growing since Corona
As an airport chaplain, Harms in Langenhagen is the contact for all the little worries and needs that arise at an airport. But since the beginning of the Corona crisis and the associated chaos in German air traffic that has persisted to this day, there have been increasing worries and hardships that he and his team of volunteers are confronted with.
The evangelical pastor started his job in 2019. That was shortly before Corona, a record year for the airport. That year it counted more than 6 million passengers – and everything went pretty smoothly. The numbers have not yet recovered since the lockdowns. They are around 70 percent, and it is expected that there will be more than 4 million passengers this year. But due to the poor personnel planning of the security service provider commissioned by the federal government and other factors, everything often goes haywire, not only in Hanover, but also here.
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Passengers suffer – but not only them
Passengers suffer from the flight chaos, standing in queues for hours at night and sometimes missing planes in recent months because the controls took so long. The stress in the families is growing, the fear that the long-planned and expensive vacation is about to fall through.
“My understanding of my role as a pastor is that I take care of everyone at the airport”: Pastor Karl-Martin Harms.
© Source: Rainer Drose
“But my understanding of my role as a chaplain is that I take care of everyone at the airport,” says Harms. And apart from the passengers, the salespeople in the airport supermarket, the taxi drivers and the assumed travel agencies, these are above all those who are in direct contact with customers when the planes are being processed – and who have to take the rap out of the passengers’ anger.
“Insulted and spat on”
“Hardly anyone can imagine what these people have been listening to since last summer,” says Harms. “They are insulted and spat on – I’m amazed at where they get the strength from to come back to work every day.” Because: “It’s absurd: the people who check in the luggage or do security checks here who can Nothing for the problems, but they have to pay for everything. They come to work knowing exactly what to expect in the terminals at certain times. I have great respect for that.”
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The airport chaplain cannot solve the problems, neither individually when looking for suitcases, nor organize them by speeding up the processes. “But I can listen to people – and with me they know that someone is really listening to them,” says Harms modestly.
Unlike action movies
Airport chaplaincy – in action films, this catastrophic role always appears when something has happened and grief needs to be delivered to waiting relatives. “Fortunately, I haven’t experienced anything like that – and I also hope that it never happens,” says Harms. On the other hand, what sometimes happens is that when passengers die on flights, the pilot has to head for the nearest airport. “The police then know that they can inform me so that I can give comfort to the relatives,” says Harms.
He can always be reached quickly anyway: there is a business card with his cell phone number in the airport chapel. If Pastor Harms is not in the house himself, he informs one of the volunteers on his team.
Summer holidays are high season at the airport
Formally, the 60-year-old only has a quarter of his pastoral position at the airport. He spends most of his time as a stand-in pastor, also as a substitute pastor in congregations where positions are currently vacant. In its time management, the airport is actually scheduled with one day per week. “But last week I was here four days, and this week it will probably be four again,” says Harms.
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In the chapel at the airport: Pastor Karl-Martin Harms in front of the altar whose Bible was stolen.
© Source: Rainer Drose
The summer holidays in Lower Saxony begin this Wednesday, which means peak season at the airport. Low-cost airlines to Izmir and Antalya, Mallorca and Thessaloniki will sometimes take off every minute. Hannover Airport is popular with airlines, especially at night: When almost all other German airports observe the night’s rest due to resident protection, Langenhagen can continue to be served. For example, one more flight per day can be accommodated at European destinations than at other airports – and aircraft only make money when they are in the air.
Night flights: Hanover is popular
For everyone though, the 24/7 opening means stress. The institutions involved also say behind closed doors that the public, especially on leisure flights to Southeast Europe, occasionally makes orderly handling very difficult. Pastor Harms, however, does not want to blame anyone. He doesn’t really care who has what share in the cause of the problems. “My aim is to make everyday life easier for people at the airport,” he says affably.
Together with his Catholic pastoral colleague Annette Burchardt, he is currently developing a short-term meditation program for airport employees. “It’s all about very simple instructions for relaxing and meditating when the tape is still or there’s a moment when there’s nothing to do,” says Harms. Especially in a stressful job like at the airport, what is on the inside is important.
Margot Käßmann opened the chapel
The chapel on the arrivals level in Terminal A has also really proven its worth, says Harms. It was initiated by the British Bishop Margot Käßmann in the run-up to the 2005 Church Congress, who approached Airport Manager Raoul Hille and quickly convinced him of the need. Open day and night, it is a place for people looking for a little rest and reflection.
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They were put to good use – albeit with all the side effects that a permanent opening brings with it. “Every now and then we find leftovers hidden under the chairs or behind the alter,” says Harms. Last week, six cigarette butts were found in the donation box. However, what awaited the pastor that day shook him: someone stole the altar Bible. “That affects me personally, I find something like that disrespectful,” says Harms.
Worship again this Wednesday
The offers in the chapel continue anyway. Once a month – so again this Wednesday at 6 p.m. – Harms celebrates a small prayer instead of with the team of pastoral volunteers. It’s public – anyone who wants to can come by. Perhaps it is the last breath before the start of the holiday flight.