Increasing number of passengers The US airlines lack pilots

As of: 22.06.2021 10:05 a.m.

The number of air travelers in the US is rapidly increasing again. In the meantime, the remaining pilots at some airlines are no longer sufficient to carry out all the planned flights.

By Torsten Teichmann, ARD studio Washington

The US airline Delta is looking for staff again. 1000 pilots are to be hired in the coming months. A year ago, in the middle of the corona pandemic and with constantly falling passenger numbers, the airline threatened to fire 1,700 pilots. In the end, the airline forced the unions to accept indirect wage cuts. Now Delta could even have to pay more for new employees in order to find staff again.

American Airlines is canceling flights as a precaution

American Airlines has similar problems. Especially on weekends, the number of pilots who have already been trained and tested is apparently not enough. In the event of delays and bad weather, flights are canceled because pilots would otherwise exceed their working hours and there is no one who can take over the shift. Now American canceled almost 1,000 flights for July as a precaution. The staffing level is so tight that the airline has been overwhelmed by rising demand and its own ambitious plans. The Wall Street Journal reports that there is also a frequent lack of ground crews to refuel aircraft.

Vacation trips partly at pre-crisis level

The number of vacationers in the US could return to pre-pandemic levels this month for some airlines. Delta expects the restrictions on transatlantic traffic to fall in the second half of the year. So far, travelers from Schengen countries such as Germany are still banned from entering the USA. US President Joe Biden has not yet announced that he will change anything

Deliveries to companies Farms are waiting for more vaccine

Status: 14.06.2021 12:44 p.m.

Company doctors have been able to vaccinate their employees for a week. But the amount of vaccine allocated is nowhere near sufficient. In the second week, fewer vaccine doses are delivered than in the first. From Jens Eberl, WDR BMW has big plans. The automobile manufacturer has set up a total of 29 vaccination lines at its locations in Germany. In Munich alone there are six vaccination lines at two locations. The company said it could do up to 2,500 vaccinations a day. This means that the entire workforce in Germany can be vaccinated within a few weeks. The problem: there isn’t enough vaccine. A little more than 5000 employees were vaccinated in the first week. The situation is similar with the consumer goods manufacturer Henkel. A vaccination center was set up in a company building in the immediate vicinity of the factory premises in Düsseldorf. Up to 1500 employees per week can be vaccinated. In the first week, however, there were only 640.

Fewer vaccine doses in the second week

“Many companies have prepared themselves really well,” says Wolfgang Panter, President of the Association of German Company and Company Doctors (VDBW). “6300 company doctors are available nationwide and have ordered vaccines.” But it is only arriving slowly. The distribution is based on the number of company doctors in the company. Last week there were 102 doses per doctor. This week it should be 84. “Originally, 804 cans per head were planned, but it was clear that this would never be the case,” said Panter. The company doctors are now relying heavily on July. Here one reckons that the vaccination turbo will be switched on. Be prepared.

FAQ 06/08/2021

High demand from the staff

At Thyssenkrupp, vaccinations are carried out every five minutes at the Essen site, on four vaccination lines, with seven doctors from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Should more vaccine be delivered, vaccinations can also be carried out in the evening and on weekends and a 5th vaccination line can also be used. 50,000 people work at Currenta, which manages and operates one of the largest chemical sites. They had ordered 20,000 doses here; if these had arrived, the vaccination would be finished in two to three weeks. But only 3000 came. According to the company, the vaccination lines of Deutsche Telekom have a capacity of up to 10,000 vaccinations per week. Telekom has 89,000 employees in Germany. Due to the approval of priority group 3 by the federal states, vaccinations had already been carried out in the company. The company expects up to 30,000 employees to take advantage of the opportunity to be vaccinated by company doctors. Telekom has set up 18 vaccination lines nationwide for this purpose.

06/02/2021

IT facilitates rapid processes

Many companies have also adapted their IT to vaccinate. For example, BASF has developed its own online booking system together with an IT service provider. Employees can use this to register. The navigation along the entire Impfstraße is completely digitized from check-in to check-out. The vaccination center went into operation on April 14th. Up to and including Friday, around 16,000 BASF employees had received an initial vaccination. Initially, the vaccination sequence prescribed by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate was followed and priority groups II and III were vaccinated. Since June 7, all BASF employees at the Ludwigshafen site have been able to register for a vaccination appointment. At the Vonovia real estate group, a random generator determines who receives a vaccination offer for which location based on the activity performed. First, the random number generator selects employees with direct customer contact.

Prioritization canceled in many places

In the meantime, many companies have completely removed the prioritization. The Deutsche Post says that there is no longer any personal prioritization in the sequence of vaccinations. “Through the choice of location and the allocation of appointments, we ensure that employees in the operational area have at least equal access to operational vaccination appointments,” says the company. At RWE, employees have been able to make appointments using an online tool or by telephone since last Monday. RWE does not plan to prioritize vaccinations. The President of the Association of German Company and Company Doctors has established that every company has a different approach to prioritization. From his point of view, employees who are exposed to a higher risk should still be given preference, for example field staff or fitters; People who have a lot of contacts. Of course, you can’t dictate that, says Panter.