The desire to travel among people in Germany is great after more than two years of Corona. But airlines and airports lack staff. In addition, there are now strikes and more corona sick leave.
Staff shortages at airlines and airports are increasingly disrupting people’s travel plans.
Because more and more crews are now reporting sick again 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 the cuts already announced, a total of over 3,000 connections will be lost in July and August.
The low-cost subsidiary Eurowings also expects further cuts. Condor and Tuifly give the all-clear. Strikes at other European airlines are causing additional turbulence.
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.
Strikes – Weather – Corona
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 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 are 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 rising number of corona infections, which is reflected in higher sick leave among all system partners in the process chain.”
Flights in Germany and Europe are particularly affected
Lufthansa and Eurowings want 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. For example, Eurowings only flies nine times a day from Düsseldorf to Mallorca 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 security checks.
Hoping for personnel from Turkey
The aviation industry is therefore hoping for quick exemptions from German authorities for the deployment of around 2,000 workers from Turkey at German airports. “We hope that things will go very quickly,” said a spokeswoman for the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry (BDL).
The necessary reliability checks could then be carried out within about six weeks and the employees of ground handling services could still be deployed during the summer travel season. A spokeswoman for the airport association Flughafenverband ADV added: “2000 workers would greatly relieve the industry and increase reliability.”
The Federal Association of Consumers (vzbv) called on Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) to prevent chaos at German airports during the holiday season. “Federal Minister of Transport Wissing must get the problems under control if he does not want to go down in history as a traffic chaos minister,” said vzbv mobility expert Marion Jungbluth to the “Handelsblatt”.
The holiday airline Condor, on the other hand, sees no reason to change anything in its plans for the summer. “We have not canceled any flights and do not plan to,” said a spokeswoman. The company did not cut any jobs during the pandemic and has had the situation well under control so far. In addition, Condor also uses aircraft and staff from other airlines on peak days to bring all customers to their holiday destinations as planned – and back again.
The German holiday airline Tuifly also sees no reason to reduce its flight schedule for the summer. “We’re not deleting anything,” said a Tui spokesman. The company did not record any increased cases of illness due to the corona virus. Tuifly may even launch additional flights on one day or another to compensate for the failures of other airlines, said the spokesman. The aim is that people do not have to cancel their vacation.
Strikes at Ryanair and Brussels Airlines
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.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
