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Shortage of staff at airlines: 2000 workers from Turkey should ease the situation at airports

2022-06-24T19:25:10.806Z


The desire to travel among people in Germany is great after more than two years of corona. Alone: ​​Airlines and airports lack staff. Air traffic is now hoping for support from Turkey.


Enlarge image

A passenger plane takes off from Frankfurt Airport.

Delays are expected at the German airports at the weekend due to a lack of staff

Photo: Boris Roessler / dpa

In order to ease the situation at German airports, airlines now want to bring in staff from Turkey.

The aviation industry would like German authorities to issue special permits quickly for the deployment of around 2,000 Turkish workers at German airports.

"We hope that things will go very quickly," said a spokeswoman for the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry (BDL).

Staff shortages at airlines and airports are increasingly affecting people's travel plans.

Because more and more crews are calling in sick because of Corona cases, Lufthansa is canceling more than 2,000 more flights at its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich in the middle of the summer vacation period.

Together with cuts that have already been announced, over 3,000 connections will be lost in July.

The low-cost subsidiary Eurowings also expects further cuts.

Strikes at other European airlines are causing additional turbulence.

»2000 workers would greatly relieve the industry«

For the supporting workers from Turkey, the necessary reliability checks could be carried out within about six weeks and the employees in ground handling services could still be deployed during the summer travel season.

A spokeswoman for the airport association Flughafenverband ADV added: "2000 workers would relieve the industry and increase reliability."

According to the industry association DRV, tour operators will do everything to ensure that booked summer trips take place.

"It is rather unlikely that well-booked routes to package tour destinations around the Mediterranean or to more distant destinations will be canceled on a larger scale," said a spokeswoman for the German Travel Association DRV on Friday.

This applies in particular to flights that have been purchased by the organizers long beforehand.

Tour operators and travel agencies are in close contact with airlines and airports.

Lufthansa: Over 95 percent of the planned flights are flown

Lufthansa justifies its latest cuts with the fact that strikes by air traffic controllers in Marseille, for example, weather events and, in particular, an increased corona sickness rate have recently put an additional strain on the system.

"In the past few days, our crews have reported sick at short notice." A good two weeks ago, the company had already canceled 900 flights within Germany and Europe for July in Frankfurt and Munich.

"But we assume that we will fly over 95 percent of the planned flights in the summer," said a Lufthansa spokesman.

Eurowings has already canceled hundreds of flights for July - and expects little improvement.

Similar adjustments can be expected for August, "if the personnel situation at airports in security checks, ground handling services, air traffic control, etc. does not improve," said a spokesman.

"We are also observing with concern the renewed increase in corona incidences, which are reflected in higher sick leave among all system partners in the process chain."

Above all, flights with alternative travel options will be cancelled

Lufthansa and Eurowings intend to largely exclude the classic holiday routes from the cuts.

Above all, flights within Germany and Europe, for which there are alternative travel options by train, are to be eliminated.

Eurowings is flying from Düsseldorf to Mallorca nine times a day instead of ten times - and ideally all the intended passengers would arrive at their destination on the planned day.

At the start of the holiday season in North Rhine-Westphalia this weekend, however, things could get tight at the airports.

It will “depend on every single cog in the process chain,” said the Eurowings spokesman.

After the pandemic, there is a lack of employees, especially at the security checks and in the ground handling services, which load and unload luggage, for example.

Airports and many airlines had reduced staff during the pandemic, which they now lack in the summer travel season.

Some air travelers reported extremely long waiting times at the security checks.

Employees at the Lufthansa subsidiary criticize the high workload

Strikes at the airlines Ryanair and Brussels Airlines are currently causing additional turbulence in European air traffic.

At Brussels Airlines, cabin crew and pilots will stop working until Saturday.

The employees of the Lufthansa subsidiary criticize, among other things, the high workload.

From Friday to Sunday there is also a labor dispute by employees of the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair in Belgium.

According to media reports, all planned Ryanair flights should take place in Spain.

Ryanair has obliged all employees to work, citing a government order.

British Airways (BA) employees at Heathrow Airport have also called for a summer holiday strike.

Adversity could also threaten in Germany.

The Verdi union is demanding 9.5 percent more money for around 20,000 Lufthansa employees on the ground.

The collective agreements expire on June 30th.


ktz/dpa

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2022-06-24

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