What has been happening at German airports for days with the beginning of the summer holidays in North Rhine-Westphalia is a debacle with an announcement.
Miles of queues for hours of waiting and unnerved passengers, thousands of canceled flights and mountains of uninvited luggage.
In the middle of the main holiday season, the necessary staff is missing to eliminate or at least mitigate the chaos.
Airlines, especially Lufthansa, which calls itself a premium brand, but also airport operators such as Fraport, have seen their eyes squeezed tens of thousands of employees out of their jobs during the pandemic, some with severance programs.
Others looked for better and, above all, better-paid new jobs in other sectors.
Apparently, after the two disastrous years of Corona for their companies, none of those responsible at Lufthansa and Co. expected millions of people to want to travel again – far away.
Now politicians should fix it again and help companies that haven't done their homework.
However, it is not enough to deploy foreign workers with quickly approved work and residence permits, for example at security checks.
The holiday season will be over by the time they have been incorporated and checked.
And the holiday joy for many gone.