PLANES, TRAINS... AND AUTOMOBILES
TRAVEL chaos could continue for as long as 12 months, according to industry insiders, as airlines and airports struggle to hire enough staff.
Britons travelling for an Easter holiday faced further turmoil yesterday as more than 120 flights were cancelled at airports across the UK.
It comes after a week of disruption, with hundreds of scrapped departures and long waits at security and check-in at airports including Manchester and Heathrow.
People travelling to France via the Channel Tunnel were advised to take food and drinks as lengthy queues built up at Dover.
Roads in Kent have been hit by long delays in recent days due to a shortage of ferries caused by the suspension of sailings by P&O Ferries after it sacked nearly 800 seafarers without notice. The
‘It will last at least 12 months’
company has said that it will resume operations next week pending regulatory approval.
Experts have cited a perfect storm of reasons for the ongoing difficulties.
After cutting thousands of jobs during the pandemic, the aviation industry in general is suffering from difficulties recruiting staff and waiting for security checks to be carried out on new employees.
There has also been a recent rise in Covid-related staff sickness, and there was a huge demand for holidays when the Government relaxed travel restrictions.
Meanwhile, problems on petrol station forecourts have exacerbated the situation.
As well as soaring prices, motorists faced long queues in some areas as climate change protesters blocked major fuel depots.
This came on top of existing supply issues due to the increased demand after the pandemic and because of the war in Ukraine.
Kully Sandhu, MD of the Aviation Recruitment Network, said: “People only think of the crew. But to get a flight in the air it takes many, many people, from check-in, to security, to the leisure services at the gate.
“When furlough ended, aviation companies didn’t have the financials to keep people on, and the market was very volatile.
“When the Government announced the restrictions were ending, airlines could not have predicted the number of passengers that would come back, and they are now unable to ramp up the staffing that they need.
“Aviation was the most affected industry during Covid and all companies based in and around airports came to an end,” he said.
“Now we are in a situation where airports have opened up and airlines need to make money after the last two years and are putting on a lot of flights.
“But support services can’t cope. In my opinion we will be like this for at least another 12 months.
“The reason for that is the volume and the demand for passenger travel. Summer will be a problem in my opinion, we will see queues at check-in and security.
“Had the Government continued furlough for the travel industry, companies would not have
had to lose the experienced personnel they had,” he added.
Paul Charles, CEO of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said bringing experienced staff back into the industry after the instability of the past two years is proving very difficult.
He said: “Many travel firms have been caught on the hop by the speed of the recovery and not having enough people in place.
“The World Travel and Tourism Council warned in December that there would be a 220,000 jobs shortfall.
“They did rightly say ‘look out’, but imagine the losses and turmoil of the past two years, firms were worried about hiring without evidence.
“It has been hard to find people because they have gone into other sectors that offer more certainty and a higher salary. I think the problem is other sectors have been able to be more attractive.
“We have had pilots in supermarkets and cabin crew as estate agents. The travel sector has a lot of really good people but it is proving hard to draw people with experience back.
“The sector has to educate people about why it is such a good industry to work in.
“People are worried that there may be another future lockdown or variant and they would be stuck again.
“That’s the fundamental problem,” he said. One of the difficul
ties facing the industry is that those working in airports have to be vetted for security clearance by the Government.
But there is a delay of up to eight weeks for that process to be carried out.
Mr Sandhu said: “Security checks are very strict, as they should be. But we have people we want to place in roles and are just waiting.
“Also, this has created a candidate market,” he said.
“People will apply for multiple jobs, and the one they take will simply be the one they can get clearance for first.” It prompted Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh to warn: “Brits are facing a week of travel disruption, and this Conservative Government is missing in action.
“Tory ministers need to step up and act to ease the disruption.
“The Government needs to begin clearing the huge backlogs in security checks so airport staff can safely begin work.”
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps had previously warned the aviation sector to “be careful” about cutting jobs during the pandemic.
He said: “I did say to airports and airlines during coronavirus, be careful about how many people you let go because this will come back again, and that’s what’s happening.
“We can’t take shortcuts on security and passengers wouldn’t want us to do that.”
The chaos comes after Civil Aviation Authority chief executive Richard Moriarty warned that late-notice cancellations and excessive delays are “not just distressing for affected consumers but have the potential to impact confidence levels across the industry”.
A Government spokesperson said: “The aviation industry is responsible for resourcing at airports and they manage their staff absences, although we want to see minimal disruption for passengers during the Easter period.
“The requirement for counter terrorist checks for aviation security staff is important for the protection of the travelling public and the Government continues to process these security clearances in a timely manner.”
‘Airlines cannot ramp up staffing’