MArkus Kempmann still remembers the day he received this letter – delivered by FedEx, signed by machine in the USA: Kempmann’s employer, the US airline United Airlines, informed the flight attendant on September 29, 2020 that he had been made redundant , after almost 20 years of service. The reason given by the airline in the letter was that its location at Frankfurt Airport would be closed. The corona pandemic is to blame, and that means that the 145 flight attendants who are stationed there now have to be made redundant for operational reasons.
“You will be separated from United effective October 1, 2020” – You will be separated from United effective October 1, 2020, the letter reads.
“It felt like an unexpected slap in the face,” says Kempmann, who actually has a different name but does not want to read his real name in this text for fear of being sued by the airline for defamation.