BERLIN, June 5 (UPI) -- European aviation giant Airbus' plan to hire 1,250 new employees this year has been stalled by a lack of engineers in Germany.
Airbus Germany head Gerhard Puttfarcken, told Monday's Die Welt newspaper that while 650 people have already been hired, the company looks to hire 600 more, most from the Hamburg area.
"We are encountering shortages when it comes to engineers," he said, adding the company had looked for engineers in Sweden, England, Italy and Spain to make up for Germany's engineer shortage.
It's not that engineers are not among the country's roughly 4.5 million people currently out of work.
"But we are surprised how little flexibility there is in Germany," he said. "Some people refuse to move from southern to northern Germany."
Airbus needs extra personnel to boost production in the coming years from 30 planes a month in 2006 to 34 planes in 2008.
Puttfarcken said production of planes should be sped up in the future.
"Clients tell us it can't be that I order a plane today and won't get it until years down the road."
Airbus and its U.S. competitor Boeing are in a constant rivalry for domination of the global aviation market.
Airbus has had success with its giant jumbo, the A320, while Boeing has raked in massive orders with its new 787 Dreamliner model.
