Bahn receives hundreds of applications: airline employees switch to rail


Bahn receives hundreds of applications
Airline employees switch to rail

Many aircraft have been parked on the ground for months. Without real tourism, they are hardly needed. For many airline employees, this means that they have to reorient themselves. Some find their new home on the rails.

From flight to train: In the corona pandemic, hundreds of airline employees apply to Deutsche Bahn (DB). In the four months to the end of February alone, Deutsche Bahn received 530 applications from airline employees, said Bahn HR Director Martin Seiler of the AFP news agency. The state-owned company had given around 120 job commitments over a somewhat longer period of time.

Most of the former airline employees work in train support. This is followed by the vehicle maintenance area, where, for example, electronics technicians or mechatronics technicians are employed. According to DB, lateral entrants have also been hired for the job of train driver or detailed planner in maintenance.

Deutsche Bahn had already started a cooperation with Germanwings in May 2020 and shortly afterwards a cooperation with Sunexpress. “This alone resulted in almost 70 hires as train attendants: inside by former flight attendants,” said Seiler. There is also a cooperation with the airport operator Fraport. There is also a regular, partnership-based exchange on application options at DB with Lufthansa.

“We are happy that, as a provider of opportunities in the crisis, we can offer our new colleagues professional prospects and a secure job,” said Seiler. Airlines and airport operators have been hit hard by the restrictions in the Corona crisis and have cut jobs.

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