Airline staff shortages mean executives need to help with luggage

Australian airline Qantas has asked its senior executives to help as baggage handlers at the airport as it struggles to manage a shortage of staff.

The airline has enlisted at least 100 senior staff to join its third-party ground handling teams at Sydney and Melbourne airports for three months.

“High levels of winter flu and a community-wide spike in Covid, along with the ongoing tight job market, make the feature a challenge across our industry,” said Colin Hughes, COO, Qantas, in a note sent to the team and shared with the CNN Business on Monday (8).

Employees who accept the temporary agreement will be required to sort and scan bags, load them on aircraft and drive them through the airport, among other responsibilities.

They are not expected to play their ground handler role beyond their full-time positions, Hughes said in the note.

Executives who opt for the role must also be “physically capable of moving and lifting suitcases weighing up to 32 kg (71 pounds) in weight,” Hughes said.

“It is clear that our operational performance has not met our customers’ expectations or the standards we expect of ourselves – and that we are making every effort to improve our performance,” a Qantas spokesperson told CNN Business .

Airlines have struggled to cope with a strong recovery in travelers after two years of pandemic restrictions and staff cuts.

Qantas said in June 2020 it would slash 20% of its total workforce, or about 6,000 jobs — primarily affecting its corporate, ground and flight staff — as it tried to stay afloat during the height of the pandemic.

Hughes said in his memo that the company plans to recruit thousands of new employees, including ground handlers.

Robin Hayes, CEO of JetBlue, told the BBC on Monday that his company was over-hiring because workers were leaving their jobs at such a high rate.

Airports are also experiencing difficulties. In July, London’s Heathrow airport, one of the busiest in the world, asked airlines to stop selling more tickets for the summer and said it would limit the daily number of departing passengers to 100,000.