Germans take to the sky like never before

Germans are known as fearless globetrotters and the statistics prove it: the total number of airline passengers was up 6 percent to 55.2 million in the first half of this year compared with 2016. Of those travelers, 43 million flew to international destinations, while around 12 million stayed within Germany.

Within Europe the foreign destinations with the biggest growth were sunny places in the south. Travel to Cyprus increased by 78 percent, Greece by 20 percent and Portugal by nearly 16 percent. The biggest loser was Turkey. Though Germany has a large Turkish population, trips there were down by 9 percent.

Not everyone has to wait in those pesky lines or take off their shoes and belt for security clearance. Here German Chancellor Angela Merkel leaves her 143 seat plane, the Konrad Adenauer. But don't be too jealous, the plane had been used by Lufthansa for 10 years before being picked up and refurbished in 2009.

Despite the fact that many people complain that seats and legroom are shrinking, there is hardly any other practical option to flying, especially to far away places. So far this year the number of people flying to Africa from Germany was up 28 percent, while the number of those going to the US was up nearly 7 percent.

Not everyone is just flying out of Germany. In June, to great fanfare two giant pandas - Meng Meng and Jiao Qing - were flown to Berlin on a special chartered plane from China. The pair is on loan to the Berlin Zoo for 15 years. Yet at this point no one knows if the cuddly couple has already booked a return flight.

Despite the growing number of passengers this year, German airlines have received a lot of criticism. In July, the European Court of Justice ruled that companies could not levy additional fees if passengers cancel flights. And in August, government officials demanded that the country's air passenger duty be scrapped.

Once you reach your destination there is no guarantee that your luggage will be there. Passengers of Air Berlin know this problem better than most and it's one of the reasons why Germany's second-biggest airline recently declared bankruptcy. At this point it is still unclear if the company will be taken over or split up.