The transport secretary rejects the demands for an emergency visa for aviation workers to deal with the chaos at the airports that has haunted the mid-term holidays, according to industry leaders.
Industry sources who spoke to the BBC accused Grant Shapps of ruling out filling the shortage of ground and air personnel by modifying the government’s employment list.
UK understaffed airports have struggled to meet rising demand for half the period, with tourists affected by long queues and flight cancellations.
British airlines have laid off more than 30,000 employees over the past two years. The mid-term is the first significant test of the industry since Covid’s travel restrictions were lifted in the UK in March, and the head of an airport said it takes time to rebuild the number of staff.
Although queues appeared to have slowed on Thursday, there is a fear that the industry will not be able to cope with the resurgence of demand in July and August.
The Department of Transportation and the aviation industry have set up a group to discuss mitigating travel issues in time for the summer holidays.
In private, bosses have questioned why some people, including cooks and ballet dancers, are entitled to a skilled worker visa while aviation employees are not.
Ian Costigan, Manchester Airport’s interim managing director, said: “Since the turn of the year, we’ve been working to recruit the people we need to support the recovery of our operation. the long background checks and training involved, but the level of interest has encouraged us a lot. “
The airport has recruited 340 people this year, with 500 more undergoing security checks.
Shapps met with aviation industry leaders Wednesday afternoon to discuss the chaos of travel. He went on to say that resource tensions in the sector “do not excuse the poor planning and overbooking of flights that [airlines] it cannot serve ”. He said he had also expressed concern that airline passengers were being unfairly sold tickets for a holiday they could not afford.
The GMB union, which represents many aviation workers, accused the Secretary of Transport of being false in the comments, given that problems with staffing levels “have been on the radar for a long time”.
Andy Prendergast, GMB’s national secretary, told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “Unfortunately, this was a predictable issue.
“We asked the government to consider the aviation industry as a special case and they refused. And now, frankly, for Grant Shapps to come out as he has in the last 24 hours is a bit false considering that these problems they’ve been on the radar for a long time. “
Attendees at Wednesday’s meeting with Shapps included British Airways, easyJet and Tui, all of which have been canceled, while the airports represented included Gatwick, Birmingham, Bristol, Luton and Newcastle.
The Department of Transportation said the government and the aviation industry would form a working group before the summer holidays to “work together on issues of shared interest.”
Cirium Airlines said 377 flights were canceled from UK airports in the seven days to Tuesday inclusive.
The disruption to air travel had been reduced on Thursday, with queues at Heathrow being said to have been a quarter of the duration of a couple of days ago.
However, mid-term holidaymakers were warned that road trip problems were expected as the four-day holiday began.
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More than 19 million drivers are expected to hit the roads during the Platinum Jubilee weekend, according to an AA survey.
Andy Marchant, a traffic expert for location technology company TomTom, said motorists could expect high levels of congestion as people traveled down the road amid celebrations of the Queen’s 70th throne.
City of London police warned of roadblocks in the capital from Thursday evening to Friday afternoon as the royal family attended a Thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Cathedral. Meanwhile, the street jubilee festivities, most of which are expected to take place on Sunday, will close many routes.
Eurostar, which has also suffered severe delays this week, warned on Thursday morning that customers could expect more disruptions after a death on the tracks in northern France.
In a statement on social media, the railway operator wrote: “Please arrive at the station at the time indicated on your ticket. If you lose your connection, talk to a member of our staff. sorry for the impact this may have on your plans. “