In the current flight chaos, the German AUA mother Lufthansa sees the worst effects as overcome. “The bottom has been passed, flight operations are largely stabilized,” says Group CEO Christina Foerster in newspapers from the Funke media group. Among other things, 500 employees from the administration at the airports would help out to deal with the problems. The call center staff is to be tripled in the course of 2022.
“However, this summer we are dealing with sick leave that is not so easy to compensate,” says Foerster. If there are flight cancellations, then mostly on domestic German connections, where there are alternative connections or several flights a day. However, there will only be a significant relief for the winter flight schedule at the end of October.
At the end of July, a strike by Lufthansa ground staff led to chaotic conditions in air traffic. Last Thursday, however, Lufthansa and the trade union ver.di agreed on higher wages for ground workers, thereby averting further strikes in summer travel. The company had also announced that it would hire 5,000 new employees in the second half of the year to fill the current staff shortage. Another 5,000 new hires are planned for next year. In the corona pandemic, Lufthansa cut more than 30,000 jobs worldwide.
