Europe’s summer travel chaos

(Reuters) – Strikes and staff shortages are forcing airlines to cancel thousands of flights and causing hours-long queues at major airports, dashing hopes of a sizzling first summer after COVID lockdowns.

Here is a summary of some of the key developments:

LABOUR UNREST:

After sweeping job cuts and pay cuts when COVID-19 brought travel to a grinding halt, staff across the industry from pilots to baggage handlers are asking for big pay increases and better working conditions.

Norwegian Air in June agreed a 3.7% pay rise for pilots among other benefits, in a sign of what other airlines may have to offer to avoid labour strife.

** Charles de Gaulle, Paris

Workers at France’s main airport operator ADP said on July 8 they would remove a strike notice for the week-end, as did the firefighters at Paris’s international CDG airport the day before, a union source told Reuters.

** Heathrow

British Airways’ check-in staff at the airport suspended a strike, labour unions said on July 7, after the airline agreed to improve pay.

** Lufthansa

A German union representing Lufthansa ground staff is demanding at least 350 euros per month more over 12 months to cushion the effects of soaring inflation.

The staff called on the German flag carrier to end its “cost-cutting craziness” in a letter to the supervisory board seen by Reuters on July 6, saying it has contributing to the recent chaos by laying off too many workers.

Lufthansa declined to comment on the letter, though its chief executive apologised to employees and customers in late June, saying the airline “did go too far in cutting costs here and there.”

** SAS AB

SAS and unions representing pilots will resume negotiations on Wednesday to try and agree a new labour deal to end a one-week strike.

Wage talks between SAS and its pilots collapsed early in July, triggering a walkout by close to 1,000 pilots, and it filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States a day later.

Flight tracking website FlightAware showed that 190 SAS flights, or 61% of those scheduled, were cancelled on Tuesday.

** Ryanair

Spain-based cabin crew at Ryanair plan to strike for 12 more days in July, unions said. The Irish low-cost carrier said it expected “minimal” disruption to its flight schedules.

Cabin crew will strike on July 12-15, 18-21 and 25-28 across the 10 Spanish airports where Ryanair operates. CNE union confirmed on Monday that Belgian Ryanair pilots will join the strike planned by their French counterparts on July 23-24.

** Easyjet

Spain-based cabin crew at easyJet plan to go on strike for nine days in July, demanding a 40% increase in their basic salary which is much lower than in countries, such as France and Germany, local union USO said.

REDUCED SUMMER SCHEDULES:

Airlines have cut thousands of flights from their summer schedules to cope with the disruptions, including British Airways, Lufthansa and easyJet, while major airports also took steps to limit passenger traffic.

Budget airline Wizz Air said on July 11 it expected to cut flights during the summer due to labour shortages and strikes at airports. KLM, the Dutch arm of Air France KLM, has also joined reduced summer schedule scheme, scrapping up to 20 daily flights to European destinations through August due to staff shortages at the airline and its hub Schiphol Airport.

London’s Heathrow will cap the number of departing passengers at 100,000 a day this summer as it struggles to cope with a rebound in demand.

British transport minister last month said it was up to the airlines to avoid a repeat of the chaotic scenes at airports, calling for them to run “realistic” summer schedules..

HIRING SPREE AND INCENTIVES:

Airports and airlines are scrambling to hire more workers from pilots to security and border control staff and baggage handlers after many left during the COVID-19 crisis.

Industry executives say it is hard to recruit for often physically demanding, relatively low paid work at airports often located out of town. Training new hires and getting them security clearance to work at airports also takes months.

** Schiphol agreed to pay 15,000 cleaners, baggage handlers and security staff 5.25 euros ($5.50) extra per hour during the summer.

One of Europe’s busiest airports needs to hire 500 security staff. Now, there are 58,000 workers at and around the airport, 10,000 less than before the pandemic.

** Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports in Paris need to fill 4,000 jobs mainly in security, maintenance and travel retail, according to airport operator Groupe ADP and the CDG Alliance.

More than 20,000 people were laid off at Charles de Gaulle during the pandemic, according to the CGT union.

Airport security company ICTS, which operates at Charles de Gaulle, is offering a one-off 180 euro bonus to those delaying their vacation until after Sept. 15 and 150 euros for staff who sign up new recruits, according to a CGT union representative.

** Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s busiest hub, has rehired nearly 1,000 ground services employees after cutting about 4,000 during the pandemic, but will continue to see disruptions due to lack of workers in the next two or three months, its operator Fraport has said.

Germany plans to fast-track work permits and visas for several thousand foreign airport workers, mainly from Turkey, to help to ease the travel chaos.

According to the ADV airport association, about one in five jobs in security, check-in and aircraft handling is unfilled at German airports.

** The Portuguese government plans to more than double border control staff at the country’s six airports by July 4.

** In Spain, the police will hire 500 more staff taking the total to 1,700 deployed at the country’s busiest airports, including Madrid and Barcelona.

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(Reporting by Klaus Lauer in Berlin, Juliette Portala and Caroline Paillez in Paris, Toby Sterling in Amsterdam, Paul Sandle in London and Reuters bureaus; Compiled by Boleslaw Lasocki, Antonis Triantafyllou, Tiago Brandao and Marie Mannes in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi, Josephine Mason, Elaine Hardcastle and Tomasz Janowski)