Passenger lawsuits against airlines fell in the first half of 2026, but German civil courts continued to face heavy pressure from compensation claims over delayed and cancelled flights. The 20 largest airport-area district courts recorded 53,150 filings between January and June, down from 65,903 in the same period a year earlier, according to the German Judges’ Association.
Cologne remained the busiest venue, with 12,562 cases, even though the nationwide trend moved lower. Frankfurt am Main handled 8,314 filings, while Königs Wusterhausen, which covers Berlin’s airport cases, recorded 8,133. Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Erding also remained among the most heavily burdened courts. The judges’ association warned that if the pattern continues, the judiciary will still have to manage more than 100,000 passenger claims in 2026 overall.
Spokesperson Sven Rebehn linked the figures to the growing strain on civil courts, where airport-related compensation disputes have become a recurring workload. The data underline how mass claims remain a structural issue for airlines, claims handlers and legal-tech compensation platforms, even after a year-on-year decline. The article did not provide airline-by-airline figures or explain the reasons behind the drop.