The lack of personnel in the aviation industry causes long queues, delays and flight cancellations at German airports during the vacation season. Helpers from Turkey are supposed to provide relief. However, only two airports are still interested in the loudly demanded helping hands.
At German airports, despite the flight chaos, only about 150 helpers from Turkey will now be deployed after all. “The first ones are expected to arrive this week, the rest next week,” said Thomas Richter, head of the employers’ association for ground handling service providers in the aviation industry (ABL). “There are about 150 labor contracts written.” Ultimately, however, only Munich and Nuremberg airports were interested in these “helping hands,” who are to work temporarily until Nov. 6, especially in baggage handling, he said.
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At the beginning of June, several aviation associations had asked the government for help in alleviating a staff shortage of 2,000 ground service employees. This was to be done by lowering bureaucratic hurdles for hiring foreign workers, especially from Turkey. The shortage of aviation personnel causes long queues, delays and thousands of flight cancellations at German airports during the vacation season. At the end of June, the German government held out the prospect of fast-track residence and work permits for staff from Turkey as a remedy.
However, the coalition insisted that there would be no cutbacks in security checks. When personnel needs were then queried, the industry still requested about 970 workers, Richter said. Germany’s largest airport, Frankfurt, alone would have needed about 500 people. But then Cologne and Düsseldorf airports bailed out “because it took too long overall and the vacations were almost through,” Richter said. “NRW was hurting for time.”
Most recently, Frankfurt Airport also bailed out. The operator, Fraport, justified this by saying that the actual qualifications of the support staff were “in many cases well below our required minimum standards.” This applies, for example, to relevant airport experience and German language skills. “In view of the temporary deployment of these employees, the cost of extensive training, German courses, etc., and the benefits here are unfortunately not in any meaningful proportion.” Fraport therefore does not want to hire anyone via this route – “also to our disappointment.” The company will recruit staff itself and needs several hundred more employees, after a good 1,000 have already been hired.
“To call it a smashing success would probably be wrong”.
In Nuremberg, however, the helpers are welcome. The hot phase of the peak season has only just begun with the summer vacations, and the vacation season will continue until the fall vacations at the beginning of November, an airport spokesman explained. That’s why the help is still coming in time. “We need helping hands who can haul luggage from A to B, not employees with special qualifications such as a driver’s license for special vehicles.”
At Munich Airport, the first temporary workers will arrive next weekend for about two and a half months, after the recruitment process took almost as long. The personnel are to be deployed in the interior of ground handling services for baggage screening – not in the direct vicinity of the aircraft. ABL specialist Richter said the process has taken a long time overall. “To call it a smashing success would probably be wrong.” On a positive note, however, he said all parties involved now have a clear focus on the so-called background check (ZÜP). “I hope that in the future we will get people through the ZÜP more quickly.” The German Air Transport Association (BDL) had also repeatedly called for a faster security check for new hires.
