The original way was found Australian Airlines Qantas to alleviate the suffering caused by staff shortage. They asked senior corporate executives to leave their offices and work for three months as movers.

The airline’s COO is looking for at least 100 volunteers to help load and unload baggage and drive the legendary electric baggage cars through Sydney and Melbourne airports.

Qantas, like dozens of companies, has been caught off guard by a surge in travel after two years of pandemic and border reopening travel restrictions. “The high incidence of influenza and COVID-19 in the community, as well as other workplace issues, are creating major challenges in the air transport sector,” explains Qantas COO Colin Hughes. “Obviously, no one can hope that these people will take on their new task after a hard day at the office.”

To solve this problem, the airline asked managers and corporate executives to work at airports as porters for three months, three to five days a week, with four to six hour days. The corresponding announcement states that participants in the promotion must be able to lift and carry luggage weighing 32 kg each.

They were requested by an Australian airline for three months due to a lack of ground personnel.

Urgent

“It was clear to us that the company’s performance was not satisfying passengers and not approaching the level of service quality that Qantas is known for. That is why it is critical that we do our best to overcome temporary obstacles and improve our work,” says Colin Hughes. “What we have proposed is not unprecedented. This has been done in the past, during peak periods of passenger traffic, such as around Easter. At that time, about 200 people from the company’s headquarters left their offices and contributed to the smooth operation of airports.

It is worth noting that Australia’s aviation industry has been hit hard by the travel restrictions imposed by the pandemic, with airports closed and planes landing. Qantas was forced to lay off thousands of workers, many of whom worked in various jobs at airports.

The return to normal life has also caused serious problems for airports, and a month ago the airline was forced to apologize to its customers who complained about delays and lost luggage.

The easing of measures against COVID-19 around the world, and especially the explosion in tourist traffic, “caught airlines by surprise.” For this reason, the situation at many airports, especially in Europe, is chaotic, and some, such as London’s Heathrow, are cutting flights and ticket sales to cope with extremely stressful conditions.