Australian airline Qantas has asked senior executives to work as baggage handlers for three months as it tries to tackle an acute labour shortage.
The airline’s operations manager is searching for at least 100 volunteers to work at the airports in Sydney and Melbourne.
Other than operating cars to transport luggage throughout airports, tasks include loading and unloading bags.
As borders reopen, Qantas is battling to restore its services, much like the majority of the global airline business.
According to Qantas’ chief operating officer Colin Hughes, “The high rates of winter flu and a Covid increase across the population, coupled with the current tight labour market, make resourcing a challenge across our business.”
“There is no requirement that you accept this position in addition to your full-time job,” Mr. Hughes continued.
The managers and executives were required to work three or five days per week in shifts that lasted either four or six hours each.
Applicants must be able to move baggage weighing up to 32 kgs each, the notice continued.
According to a Qantas representative who talked to the BBC, “We’ve been clear that our operational performance has not been reaching our customers’ expectations or the standards that we demand of ourselves – and that we’ve been pulling out all the stops to enhance our performance.”
Since Easter, 200 head office employees have volunteered at airports during peak travel times, as we have done in the past at busy times.
As nations closed their borders and grounded planes due to the epidemic, Qantas was one of the airlines that suffered greatly.
During the epidemic, the industry fired thousands of employees, many of them were ground employees.
Qantas and other significant airlines have struggled to restore operations at the level seen prior to the epidemic as efforts to slow the spread of Covid-19 have waned globally.
(With inputs from the BBC)
