(New: In the 2nd paragraph: Minister on Wednesday; in the 8th paragraph: Airport Association ADV)
BERLIN/FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) – According to Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr, the problems in air traffic cannot be solved quickly. 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 of apology to passengers. While the Verdi trade union is complaining about increasing attacks and health problems for the staff, the tourism group TUI is reporting unbroken demand. According to Transport Minister Volker Wissing, “himself has become a victim of the difficult conditions at the airports”. In the “Klner Stadt-Anzeiger” (Wednesday), the FDP politician referred to many canceled flights.
The three Federal Ministers responsible for transport, the interior and labour, Volker Wissing (FDP), Nancy Faeser (SPD) and Hubertus Heil (SPD) want to present measures to remedy the situation in the short term on Wednesday. A coordination group at state secretary level had been working on this since the middle of the month.
Tui Germany boss Stefan Baumert said, “despite all the challenges due to staff shortages in the industry, the holidays will go smoothly for the vast majority”. Unlike some airlines, the group’s own airline Tuifly does not want to cancel any flights. Baumert said on Monday evening in Berlin that the flight plan for its own Tuifly machines would remain in place, as would plans for additional reserve aircraft at peak times.
According to the manager, demand for summer travel has increased significantly in recent weeks and is “consistently above the level of 2019”. “We are catching up rapidly and are more than confident that we will see summer business this year that will come close to 2019,” Baumert confirmed earlier expectations. Bookings for the months of September and October have also been rising sharply for a few days.
Tui cannot say that people are holding back on bookings because of problems with handling at airports. There is also no evidence that customers with the so-called flex tariffs are increasingly using the option to rebook or cancel free of charge up to 15 days before departure. “They want everyone on vacation,” said Baumert. “But we are seeing record numbers of calls to our customer hotlines.”
Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr, on the other hand, warned the passengers that there would be further difficulties. 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, he apologized for the fact that after the Corona slump, the “ramp-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 acknowledged his own mistakes and found that the Lufthansa Group also lacked staff in some areas.
Wissing did not rule out a long-term change in the organization of security checks at airports. It is currently in the hands of private companies, with the federal police merely supervising. According to the “Klner Stadt-Anzeiger”, he cannot say whether Bavaria’s model is the best solution for the whole of Germany. In Bavaria, the checks are organized by an aviation security company in which the Free State holds a 51 percent stake.
The airport association ADV demanded that the large airports should be allowed to select and control private security service providers themselves – and not the federal police, as is currently the rule. “We currently see a fundamental problem in the aviation industry, a blatant shortage of staff,” said ADV Managing Director Ralph Beisel t-online. “The federal government should therefore adapt the aviation security legislation as soon as possible. The airports know best how many employees are needed in the control lanes,” added Beisel. Temporary workers from abroad could “probably be used from the beginning of August. That will visibly ease the situation.”
The Verdi trade union complained about increasing physical and psychological violence against staff in the terminals. “We see that the frustration of the passengers is increasingly being taken out on employees who cannot do anything about the problems,” said Verdi union secretary Sven Bergelin to the newspapers of the Funke media group. According to the union, the high sickness rate at German airports is also a problem. “Due to the high stress on site, we currently have a sickness rate of 20 percent at the airports,” said Bergelin.
After more than two years of the corona pandemic, the tour operator Tui is in demand for classic travel destinations, especially around the Mediterranean, especially Turkey. Antalya has therefore moved to second place behind Mallorca. Greece will also continue to be in strong demand. “Crete is heading for a record season,” said Baumert. Portugal, Cyprus and Egypt are also currently making strong gains. When it comes to car trips, the focus is primarily on the German Baltic Sea coast and the northern Italian lakes./ceb/mar/DP/ngu
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