The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Airlines face flak over UK flight chaos
Holidaymakers face more chaos on the eve of the Platinum Jubilee bank holiday weekend. More than 150 UK flights were cancelled yesterday and passengers who could travel were forced to wait in long queues at airports.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and minister Robert Courts were due to meet aviation leaders yesterday to discuss the problems.
EasyJet cancelled at least 31 flights at Gatwick, including to destinations such as Bologna, Italy; Barcelona, Spain; Prague, Czech Republic; Krakow, Poland; and Edinburgh.
British Airways axed 124 short-haul flights at Heathrow, but the airline says passengers were given advance notice.
Tui Airways is continuing to cancel six daily flights at Manchester Airport, which represents a quarter of its schedule.
One easyJet passenger tweeted a photograph from Manchester Airport at 4am showing a long queue of people in a car park outside Terminal 1.
He described the situation as “carnage”, adding: “Took two hours 45 minutes to get through – most of that was bag drop. Now on the aircraft, but due to shortage of ground crew, there’s going to be another delay of approximately 50 minutes.”
Another easyJet passenger said they had to wait for two hours and 40 minutes to receive their luggage after landing at Gatwick Airport shortly before 3am.
He said this was “simply not good enough”.
Aviation data firm Cirium said 377 flights from UK airports were cancelled in the seven days up to and including Tuesday.
Gatwick has been the most affected, with 151 cancellations, followed by Manchester (41), Heathrow (36), Bristol (27) and Edinburgh (19).
Some 10,794 flights are scheduled to depart from UK airports between today and Sunday.
Airline passengers have been hit by disruption for several months, with the situation worsening this week due to the rise in demand sparked by the half-term school holiday and the four-day Platinum Jubilee weekend.
The aviation industry is suffering from staff shortages after letting thousands of people go during the coronavirus pandemic.
Airlines and airports repeatedly called for sectorspecific financial support during the Covid-19 crisis as government travel restrictions suppressed demand. They are now struggling to recruit new workers and have their security checks processed.
Labour’s shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh accused the government of being “missing in action”.
In a letter to Mr Shapps, she called for a series of measures such as accelerating security checks for new airport staff and working with the aviation sector to tackle “chronic low pay”.