Munich Airport is expecting a total of 45 temporary workers from Turkey in the coming weeks - the first as early as next weekend.

The workers are to alleviate staffing problems in aircraft handling. Every helping hand is needed, said a spokeswoman on Wednesday. The temporary workers are to put suitcases on the baggage belts and take on other tasks in the ground handling office, but not work directly on the aircraft.

They would have already passed the security check upon entry. In Munich, all that was left was a health check and two days of training.

The labor shortage is severe, he said. "We continue to have a long-term need for employees," the spokeswoman said. Applicants "aren't beating down our doors." The temporary workers had been placed by a personnel service provider in Turkey and had to leave by Nov. 6.

In view of the handling chaos at several airports at the beginning of the summer, the associations of airports and ground handlers had urged that at least 2,000 temporary workers from Turkey be allowed to be hired on easier terms, for example for baggage services.

Munich and Nuremberg are the only airports to actually implement the plan, according to the industry association BDL. After coordination of three federal ministries, the actually prescribed examination is waived, whether German employees are not available for the jobs. In Bavaria, the number of unemployed had risen to 239,000 in July and to 2.47 million in Germany.

The Frankfurt airport operator Fraport has decided to do without temporary workers from Turkey. The offered forces did not have the expected qualifications and lacked airport experience and German language skills, a spokesman had said. Since the beginning of the year, Fraport has already hired more than 1,000 people, who are gradually arriving in the required functions, he said.

Photo by Suhyeon Choi