Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr has prepared 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 letter to passengers. The industry is planning several thousand new hires in Europe alone. “However, this increase in capacity will only have a stabilizing effect in the coming winter.”
On behalf of the company, Spohr apologized 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” had not led to the desired reliability, punctuality and robustness. The manager admitted that the Lufthansa Group also lacked staff in some areas. From next summer onwards, the group intends to use the A380 large aircraft, which have since been decommissioned.
In another letter to the workforce, Spohr explained that the board of directors had overdone the savings “at one point or another”. The Lufthansa boss cited the pressure of the losses of more than 10 billion euros in the Corona crisis. He pointed out the uniqueness of the situation: “To put it quite frankly, it was also the first pandemic to be managed for our management team and for me personally.”
Crisis phone call planned by airports and police
According to a report, a crisis telephone call with representatives of airports and the police is planned to avert the airport chaos during the summer travel season. As the “Bild” reported on Tuesday, representatives of the ten largest German airports, the federal police and other authorities and service providers want to consult with each other on Wednesday. The newspaper quoted a security expert as saying that the current chaos in flights and handling is “a systemic failure”.
Topics of the crisis talks planned for Wednesday are the situation at the airports and the blatant shortage of staff, the “Bild” reported further. Airlines and airports are currently struggling with the lack of staff. Flights are canceled and there are long queues at airports. Many jobs were cut during the corona pandemic, and there are currently many corona diseases.
According to a study by the German Economic Institute, there is currently a shortage of around 7,200 skilled workers at German airports. The industry has therefore asked the government for help. At the weekend it became known that the government wants to allow the entry of hundreds of foreign helpers who are supposed to help out at the airports with baggage handling, for example. Government circles said that a four-digit number of assistants should be brought in from Turkey. However, the Union called on the government to rely on domestic specialists instead of foreign helpers.
