Overview
- Reports published Sunday show German district courts recorded about 53,150 passenger suits in the first half of 2026, down roughly 20% from about 65,903 in the same period of 2025.
- The case load is concentrated in a few local courts that carry most of the burden, led by Cologne (about 12,562 filings), Frankfurt am Main (about 8,314) and Königs Wusterhausen (about 8,133).
- The Deutscher Richterbund says the decline does not erase systemic pressure and warns that if the trend reverses the judiciary could still face more than 100,000 passenger claims for 2026.
- Courts are turning to AI tools to speed handling of mass claims, with Frankfurt’s FraUKe and Königs Wusterhausen’s KAI extracting flight data and drafting text while judges keep final decisions.
- Passengers pursue fixed EU compensation (250/400/600 euros) through airline claims or paid online portals and typically wait four to five months for payouts with disputed cases taking up to about ten months.