British airlines and airports are not alone in having to deal with staff shortages - it is an international issue.
Australian airline Qantas is now asking senior executives to work as baggage handlers for three months.
The firm's head of operations is looking for at least 100 volunteers to work at Sydney and Melbourne airports.
Tasks include loading and unloading bags as well as driving vehicles to move luggage around airports.
Like much of the global airline industry, Qantas is struggling to resume its services as borders reopen.
"The high levels of winter flu and a Covid spike across the community, coupled with the ongoing tight labour market, make resourcing a challenge across our industry," Qantas' chief operating officer Colin Hughes said in an e-mail shared with the BBC by the company.
"There is no expectation that you will opt into this role on top of your full-time position."
Operational performance
A Qantas spokesperson told the BBC: "We've been clear that our operational performance has not been meeting our customers' expectations or the standards that we expect of ourselves - and that we've been pulling out all stops to improve our performance,"
Qantas was among airlines hit hard by the pandemic as countries closed their borders, grounding planes.
The industry laid off thousands of staff during the pandemic, many of which were ground staff.
In November 2020, Qantas outsourced more than 2,000 ground staff roles, on top of thousands more job cuts it had already announced, in an effort to limit its financial losses.
Meanwhile, the boss of US low-fare carrier JetBlue has said it is necessary to over-hire staff because of the rate at which people are still leaving the industry.
Robin Hayes said to the BBC: "I now need to over-hire just to keep the number I need. With Covid, we lost a lot of experienced people."
By the end of 2022, half of JetBlue's employees will have been with the airline for less than two years.
"Even if you can get the people, they don't have the same experience as someone who was doing that job for 10 or 15 years, so it's going to take longer for them to learn the skills," said Mr Hayes.