> Of course the direct answer is "inadequate staff" but the next question is why is that so much more now?

Simple: here in Germany, all workers at airports authorized to enter controlled zones have to pass an extensive background check, a process that takes 3-4 months under normal conditions [1]. During COVID, a lot of these workers were laid off instead of being placed under the employment protection program or left entirely since the Kurzarbeit only paid out 60% of already extremely low wages (14€/h for baggage handlers, [0]). They found other employment and won't come back - to make it worse, airports are usually well outside the city borders, so there's an awful lot of commute involved at a time when public transport doesn't run as well.

> Why aren't the airports doing more to entice workers like perhaps better benefits, pay or flexibility?

There has been a continuous pressure on costs everywhere at airports, which means the airports themselves have not much flexibility on raising fees to account for increased costs, and the companies providing the services like baggage handling, refueling and whatever usually won their contracts by tender which means they are locked in as well by law.

[0] https://de.talent.com/salary?job=flughafen

[1] https://www.luftsicherheitsschulung-online.de/faq-beantragun...