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Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD)
Photo: IMAGO/M.
Popow / IMAGO/Metodi Popow
Due to a lack of staff, there are currently bottlenecks at many airports and long waiting times as a result - the situation threatens to worsen during the peak travel season in summer.
As a remedy, the federal government now wants to make the short-term assignment of foreign workers possible.
"We make it possible for companies to use auxiliary workers from abroad, especially from Turkey," said Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) at the presentation of the government's corresponding plans in Berlin.
Together with Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) and Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD), the minister confirmed that there should be no compromises when it comes to safety.
The assistants should also be paid according to standard wages.
Above all, there was a lack of skilled workers from ground service providers and private security companies.
One now wants to issue residence and work permits quickly, said Faeser.
Heil added that wage and social dumping should be excluded.
There will be no temporary work.
The Union had previously criticized the project.
"The airport chaos could be solved permanently with domestic specialists," said the transport policy spokesman for the Union parliamentary group, Thomas Bareiß (CDU), the "Rheinische Post".
»I call on the responsible ministers to act accordingly.«
"Exaggerated in one place or another"
Airlines are canceling thousands of flights across Europe to relieve the overwhelmed system.
Lufthansa alone is taking around 3,000 connections at its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich out of the flight schedule for the summer.
Airline boss Carsten Spohr apologized to the passengers and admitted that after the pandemic, savings “were exaggerated in one place or another”.
"It obviously didn't go well for the companies responsible," said Federal Minister of Transport Wissing.
He asked himself why the companies hadn't tackled the looming personnel problem early enough.
Securing skilled workers is not a topic that is new.
"The fact that air traffic isn't working right now - well, that annoys me too."
The parliamentary manager of the SPD parliamentary group, Katja Mast, made a similar statement.
It was "completely understandable" that people were looking forward to the summer vacation - "all the more annoying when the vacation they deserve ends in frustration," she told the AFP news agency.
“It was true that times were sometimes tough for airlines and airport operators.
But thousands of flights canceled – often at short notice – endless queues at security checkpoints and lost luggage cannot be the answer,” criticized Mast.
"I urge everyone involved to finally get this under control."
mrc/dpa/AFP