The personnel situation is particularly critical in the security checks and in other operational areas. According to the German Airport Association, about every fifth position there is vacant. During the pandemic, aviation implemented extensive cost-cutting programs and laid off employees. However, the repatriation of these workers is proving difficult because the standards for reliability and safety checks are very high.
The airlines are already reacting to the shortage: Lufthansa, for example, is canceling 900 flights in Frankfurt and Munich in July alone, which corresponds to five percent of its capacity.
The subsidiary Eurowings is also cutting hundreds of connections for the summer. “The situation could become problematic at the major hubs of European air traffic – such as Frankfurt, Düsseldorf or Amsterdam. This is where most delays and flight cancellations will occur,” says Ingo Hagedorn from Linz-Hörsching Airport.
Difficulties like those at the big airports are not to be expected in this country. Hagedorn: “We don’t expect any major problems in the next few months. We have enough employees to handle the handling.”
During the Pentecost holidays, the first peak loads were reached again, and things look “very good”. The personnel situation in Austria is also difficult to compare with that abroad: “At the beginning of the pandemic, we decided to send our employees on short-time work. As a result, most of the workforce remained with us.” (fep)
Source: Nachrichten
