The German flag carrier Lufthansa is redeploying some of its foreign international cabin crew across other routes in its network to boost productivity, according to German language aviation blog Aero Telegraph.
Like many international airlines, Lufthansa hires foreign cabin crew to operate specific routes where language and cultural barriers are highest. For example, the airline specifically hires Chinese and Korean cabin crew, as well as Japanese and Indian crew.
These crew are normally only ever used on flights where their language skills are required, but with Lufthansa still rebuilding its network and schedule in Asia, some of these cabin crew have been left sitting around and not being used.
Now, Lufthansa will start redeploying these crew on a small number of flights across the airline’s network, such as to Almaty, Astana, Bahrain, and Tehran, as well as Dubai and Damman.
Aero Telegraph reports that Lufthansa has been keen to explain that its international cabin crew won’t be working more hours than local cabin crew and that no one should be losing out on trips or pay as a result of the new policy.
Lufthansa sponsors most of its international cabin crew to live in Germany on temporary two-year work visas, after which they can be offered a permanent contract if they pass German language tests at an advanced intermediate level.
The airline does, however, also have small international bases in Delhi and Tokyo.
Last month, British Airways said it intended to double the size of its China international cabin crew base, making it the second largest foreign base to India.
British Airways will employ around 100 Chinese cabin crew based in Shanghai to work solely on flights to and from China.
