Chaos until winter?

Lufthansa boss draws gloomy forecast

Created: 06/28/2022, 11:58 am

By: Eric Sharp

Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr apologizes to passengers and employees for the chaos at German airports – but also sees no rapid improvement in the situation.

Frankfurt – Long queues at check-in, suitcases are piling up in the baggage halls, airlines like Lufthansa have had to cancel thousands of flights – the staff shortage is simply too drastic to meet the demand at the beginning of the holiday season in summer 2022.

This is also the case at Frankfurt Airport.

For travelers, the situation at Frankfurt Airport is frustrating.

But there is no end to the chaos in sight.

Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr is now preparing the passengers for further difficulties in air traffic.

The situation, which is characterized by a lack of staff, a shortage of parts and restricted airspace, will “hardly improve in the short term,” said the head of Europe’s largest airline group in a recent letter to passengers.

Frankfurt Airport: Lufthansa is planning massive new hires

Airlines such as Lufthansa are planning massive new hires through their service providers, but more employees could not ease the situation at Frankfurt Airport and the other major German airports in the short term.

According to the company, there are currently 1,000 vacancies.

Workers from Turkey should bring relief at the airports, and according to information from

, 100 administrative employees are now employed in ground handling in Frankfurt.

All in all, that should only be a drop in the bucket.

At Frankfurt Airport, passengers currently have to be patient.

(Archive photo) © Frank Rumpenhorst/dpa

At least from a monetary point of view, the job in ground handling at Frankfurt Airport has become more attractive.

The Verdi union achieved 14 percent more money and a one-time payment of 700 euros for the approximately 3,500 employees of the ground handling services of the Fraport subsidiary Fraground.

But the mood within the workforce still seems miserable.

An employee rated the situation at Lufthansa as "really, really bad", the employees would suffer from the constant changes to the flight schedule - and they would feel sorry for the passengers.

Frankfurt Airport: Lufthansa boss Spohr apologizes to passengers and employees

Spohr has now apologized on behalf of the company for the fact that after the Corona slump, the "start-up of the complex air traffic system from almost zero to currently almost 90 percent again" did not lead to the desired reliability, punctuality and robustness.

The manager admitted that the Lufthansa Group also lacked staff in some areas.

He also apologized to the employees for overdoing the savings against the background of the corona losses of over 10 billion euros.

"To be honest, it was the first pandemic that we had to deal with, including for our management team and for me personally."

From next summer, Lufthansa could again use the large A380 aircraft, which have since been decommissioned, from Frankfurt Airport.

The giant aircraft also fell victim to the lack of profitability during the corona pandemic.

With its reactivation, the airline is reacting to the increased demand for tickets.

According to information from the

, there should be a summit meeting of the airport bosses, the federal police and other authorities on Wednesday (June 29).

Apparently, a relaxation of the ban on night flights, a distribution of flights during peak times over the entire day and the regulation of baggage carriage are to be discussed.

But one thing is already certain: the chaos at Frankfurt Airport will remain a permanent guest for the time being.

(esa/dpa)