Minister was warned staff situation would lead to ‘inevitable’ travel mess
Key takeaways:
- Call scheduled airlines would fail to manage with massive demand as hostilities between government and industry worsen over request for special visas for EU employees.
- At the beginning of the year, the aviation minister was warned that the widespread aviation chaos noticed last week was “inescapable,” and government intervention was urgently needed to stop such disruption, union sources say.
During a telephone call with aviation unions in late January, Robert Courts were told that the industry wouldn’t be able to manage high demand unless it got help to compensate for chronic staff shortages.
Those forecasts were played out in sometimes farcical scenes last week, with hundreds of flights revoked during one of the busiest weeks of the year alongside day-long delays and huge queues snaking out of terminal buildings.
The disorder continued yesterday when at least 20 easyJet flights were revoked. The budget airline authorized “a small portion” of flights were canceled following “problems” at London’s Gatwick airport and Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.
A Gatwick Airport spokesman said: “Poor climate and air traffic control problems across Europe are limiting the number of flights that can use European airspace and are causing significant delays and some revocations at Gatwick.”