To combat long queues and flight cancellations due to overcrowding at German airports, ground handling providers are relying on hundreds of staff from abroad, Tageschau reports.
Staff shortages at German airports have caused flight chaos since the beginning of the summer. A warning strike by Lufthansa’s ground staff further aggravated the situation.
Last week there were mass flight cancellations.
“It is quite realistic that 250 foreign helpers will arrive by mid-August” to help ease the situation at Munich, Nuremberg, and Frankfurt airports, said Thomas Richter, chairman of the trade association ABL.
Richter criticized the bureaucratic obstacles associated with obtaining documents necessary for work. Due to the lack of personnel at the airports, the federal government created an opportunity to hire temporary workers from third countries – mainly Turkey. Temporary workers, however, must pass a background check.
The goal is to quickly issue residence and work permits, Interior Secretary Nancy Feser said.
ADV Airports Association CEO Ralf Beisel told RND that the recruitment of urgently needed staff could be “greatly facilitated by more efficient and shorter screening without compromising security standards”.