The German trade union Verdi has sharply criticized the announced closure of the Ryanair base in Frankfurt am Main, which is operated by Malta Air. Employee representatives have even raised the accusation of alleged abuse of short-time work. For several years now, all of the Irish low-cost airline's German bases have been operated by its subsidiary Malta Air. The external appearance almost exclusively uses aircraft in Ryanair's design. Only an "operated by" sticker next to the front door and a logo on the safety cards attached to it are obvious indications of this for passengers. Ryanair recently announced that the Frankfurt am Main base will be closed on March 31, 2022. According to Verdi, 250 Malta Air employees stationed in Germany will be affected. "We are experiencing uncertainty and indifference to the individual fates of the employees and mismanagement on an unimaginable scale," explains Dennis Dacke, the responsible union secretary at Verdi. Malta Air is offering those affected the opportunity to transfer to other stations within Europe if possible. Verdi accuses the fact that new employment contracts with "hidden clauses" are to be concluded in this context. "Within a few weeks, the employees are to decide whether they want to pack up their bags and go where they want to start their new life, often with their family," says Dacke. If the employees do not give in to this pressure, they will ultimately be faced with redundancy: "This is precisely what leads to the often transnational employees being forced into very disadvantageous individual employment contracts." Verdi is particularly critical of the fact that the Frankfurt Malta Air employees are under pressure due to a lack of alternatives on the German labor market. "For them, the situation is without alternative, as they have hardly any opportunities after redundancy.