Chaos continues for airline passengers
HolIDAyMAKERS faced 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 afternoon 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 shorthaul 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 posted on Twitter a photograph from Manchester Airport at 4am, showing a long queue of people in a car park outside Terminal one.
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 sector-specific 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.
Mr Shapps claimed travel firms have “seriously oversold flights and holidays relative to their capacity to deliver”. He went on: “This must not happen again and all efforts should be directed at there being no repeat of this over the summer.”
Mr Shapps had earlier demanded a meeting with airports, airlines and ground handlers to “find out what’s gone wrong and how they are planning to end the current run of cancellations and delays”.
Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab accused airlines of a “lack of preparation” ahead of the holiday surge. He told Sky News: “I don’t think the airline operators have done the recruitment that they should have done.”