According to a study, around 7,200 skilled workers are currently missing at German airports.

At the same time, there are "no more reserves on the labor market" to fill these gaps in air and ground personnel, according to a study by the German Economic Institute (IW) presented on Wednesday.

She takes a close look at the effects of the Corona crisis on the sector, which had suffered greatly from the restrictions.

From the end of 2019, air traffic was increasingly restricted due to the pandemic, and at times passenger traffic came to an almost complete standstill.

The authors emphasized that staff had to be cut back, many employees reoriented themselves and are now not returning to their jobs.

Accordingly, the number of employees in aviation shrank by around four percent between 2019 and 2021.

There was a drop of 6,000 employees in service staff, plus 1,200 ground staff in technical air traffic operations.

Now that flying is possible again, few staff meet high demand and there are "significantly more vacancies than unemployed people," said the IW.

Probably more flight cancellations

Employment among pilots fell by only 1.5 percent in the period under review.

However, the most common occupation in aviation is the service specialist in aviation, who accounts for around half of the workforce.

This includes check-in staff or stewards.

Specialists work in technical air traffic operations at the airports, i.e. aircraft handlers and ground handling services.

The shortage of skilled workers is likely to get worse because, according to the study, not as many planes are taking off as before the Corona crisis.

In addition, several airlines had to cancel flights planned for the summer due to a lack of staff, including Lufthansa.

"A smooth start to the summer vacation is likely to remain an unrealistic hope for many," warned IW economist Alexander Burstedde.

"In the medium term, the industry must work to become more attractive as an employer again."