Qantas Executives To Work In Baggage Handling For Three Months

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The Australian Airline Has Made The Demand After Hundreds Of Employees Were Laid Off During The Covid Pandemic

Australian airline Qantas has ordered 100 of the company's senior executives to work as bag handlers in Sydney and Melbourne, after hundreds of staff were laid off due to the Covid-19 Pandemic's hold on Australia.

A baggage handler's job isn't an easy one, with tasks including loading and unloading heavy bags from planes, driving baggage collector trucks, and moving luggage across the airport from the gate to baggage claim.

Like many airliners including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, Qantas has been hit hard by the cost of living crisis and the pandemic.

With global services restricted to save on fuel and accommodate for staff shortages.

The COO of Qantas, Colin Hughes, stated that: "The high levels of Covid, rising cost of jet fuel, and staff absences make running an international airline very difficult".

The decision to order 100 of their own executives to work the bags also came after the airline outsourced 2,000 jobs to agency workers in 2020, which angered labour unions.

The shortage of baggage handlers in Australia has not been lost on the British, as Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2 continues to be packed with rows upon rows of suitcases.

Leading travelers to sift through the sea of luggage to find their case(s), the anger caused often taken out on innocent members of staff.

Both Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport have put a passenger cap on airlines during the summer, in order to clamp down on the luggage buildup and remove pressure from the overworked and underpaid airport staff.

A move opposed by several airlines starved of cash, including Emirates and British Airways.

A Qantas spokesman told media outlets that: "We've been clear that our operational performance has not been meeting our customer's expectations, or the standards we expect of ourselves.

We've been pulling out all the stops to improve our performance, as we have done in the past during busy periods like summer holidays".