Michael O’Leary has clashed with Grant Shapps over the Transport Secretary’s refusal to relax immigration rules to ease travel chaos.
Ryanair’s chief executive has hit out at the Government’s “weird” post-Brexit policies on foreign workers which allowed it to hire staff from Africa but not mainland Europe.
He said: “I can hire thousands of people in Portugal, in Italy, France and Germany on exactly the same wages I’m paying in the UK and I just can’t hire them in the UK at the moment.
“And we have this strange situation at the moment where in the UK I can get visas to bring Moroccans to come in and work as cabin crew. But I can’t get visas for young Portuguese, Italians or Slovaks. We just need a little bit. of more common sense and a practical approach to how we implement Brexit.”
His comments come as airlines and airports prepare for the start of the summer holidays this weekend.
Millions of families are desperate to go abroad, many for the first time since the start of the pandemic, but fear a repeat of the chaotic scenes witnessed at airports up and down the country since Easter.
Airlines and airports have blamed each other as passengers have been forced to wait in hours-long queues, suffered last-minute cancellations and lost luggage.
Shapps has repeatedly rejected requests from the aviation industry for emergency visas to deal with staff shortages.
Last month, the Telegraph revealed that airlines led by Jet2 and easyJet were pushing for aviation workers to be added to the shortage employment list, which would make it easier to hire staff from overseas .
Shapps rejected the demand, saying it was unlikely the Home Office would be willing to make an exception for the aviation industry when other sectors made similar appeals to their respective departments.
This newspaper also revealed that the previous Tory leadership contender backed off another solution that would have allowed an influx of foreign workers on a temporary basis.
Airlines had proposed issuing baggage handlers and check-in staff with temporary visas similar to those issued to fruit pickers, musicians and religious figures.
A senior source said at the time: “Aviation is also a seasonal industry and temporary visas would work very well to meet peak demand.”
Another added: “This illogical approach to the lack of labor in the economy means the government must take its fair share of responsibility for the current problems despite its best efforts to deflect blame exclusively to airlines”.
Mr O’Leary told BBC Radio 4: “There are not enough people in the UK willing to do these jobs… especially during peak summer periods and at airports in particular. The management staff of the airport and airport security staff are struggling to recruit, particularly in the South East, at airports such as Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester.”
Shapps has stood by his decision that the government would not pull “the lever that marked more immigration” to solve airport delays.