As a remedy for the acute staff shortages at German airports, the federal government wants to make it possible for foreign workers to be deployed on short notice. “We make it possible for companies to use auxiliary workers from abroad, especially from Turkey,” said Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) on Wednesday in Berlin at an appearance with Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) and Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD). .

Above all, there was a lack of specialists from ground service providers and private security companies. One now wants to issue residence and work permits quickly, said Faeser. Heil added that wage and social dumping would be ruled out. There will be no temporary work.

Overall, this should help to defuse the sometimes chaotic situation at the airports. Because a lack of staff at airlines and especially ground service providers causes queues, delays and flight cancellations. Airlines are canceling thousands of flights across Europe to relieve the overwhelmed system. Lufthansa alone is taking around 3,000 connections at its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich out of the flight schedule for the summer. Airline boss Carsten Spohr apologized to the passengers and admitted that after the pandemic crisis, savings “were exaggerated in one place or another”.

However, many assistants are unlikely to be deployed until August at the earliest – and thus too late for the holiday business at many airports, said Thomas Richter, head of the employers’ association of ground handling service providers in aviation (ABL), recently in a Reuters interview. “It doesn’t solve the problem, but it certainly helps.”