Canceled flights, long waiting times, bottlenecks in baggage handling - passengers at the airports in North Rhine-Westphalia do not have to reckon with conditions like in North Rhine-Westphalia, the local airports promise.
Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - There is no sign of chaos in handling: The airports in the south-west and their passengers have so far been spared the consequences of staffing problems at large airports. After the smooth handling of Whitsun travel, the rush during the summer holidays can also be managed, according to the state airport in Stuttgart and Baden Airport. Bodensee-Airport relies on the flexibility of its employees in order to be able to smoothly serve the guests, who are already traveling more intensively on July 9th with the start of the summer holidays in Austria.
The airport in Friedrichshafen is the only one in the southwest that has registered a need for five to seven guest workers for apron surveillance and fire brigade with the airport association ADV. Spokesman Bernd Behrend said the company, which has 130 employees, was "reluctant" to recruit foreign workers quickly and check their background.
Airports and their ground service providers want to hire thousands of foreign workers directly. The workers are to come from Turkey and some Balkan countries, among others, for a limited period of up to three months. At the weekend, at the start of the holiday season in the most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, there were again problems in the terminals of several airports due to a lack of staff.
In Stuttgart, the need for personnel is largely covered. "During the pandemic, we kept our core team of 1,000 employees through short-time work," said airport spokeswoman Beate Schleicher. In the spring, 200 employees were hired for the subsidiaries, for example for handling luggage. There are still a few vacancies there. Only a third party for handling luggage wants to hire guest workers.
The Baden-Airpark in Rheinmünster has also taken precautions. Managing Director Uwe Kotzan: "We are well equipped and recruit our staff in the region. We built up staff in winter and spring - it's now paying off." The airport, which has around 200 employees, is currently not dependent on foreign workers. Bringing employees from abroad to Germany makes sense in the medium term, especially for the large airports.
Schleicher from the state airport advises passengers to check in online, to be at the airport at least two hours before departure and to check hand luggage for the prescribed size and weight. "All of these measures help to reduce waiting times."
