Thomas Cook and Tui Travel bosses have criticised the Government after meeting with the airline industry and the secretary of state for transport last night to discuss the reopening of UK airspace and the repatriation of customers stranded overseas.
Thomas Cook chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa and Tui chief executive Peter Long together voiced concerns about the length of time it took to collect data and to bring the industry together to facilitate this.
They also expressed concerns that no government plan was contemplated until Sunday April 18, and the industry meeting didn’t take place until Tuesday April 20.
Long described the government’s response to the crisis as a shambles.
He said: “ It is clear they underestimated the severity of the consequences of a blanket closure of airspace for such a protracted period of time.
“This has been compounded by the fact that they have neither put in place a viable repatriation plan, or ensured that the industry behaves in a consistent and responsible manner.”
Fontenla-Novoa called on the government, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and air traffic control body Nats to agree defined procedures and undertake proper co-ordination across EU airspace.
He said: “European airspace is not that big and we have to ensure there is alignment so a situation like the one we have just faced can never occur again.”
The pair believe the government is condoning a “two-tier system between the way that low-cost airlines are allowed to operate and that of holiday companies’ airlines, who take full responsibility for the costs, welfare and repatriation of their customers.”
They questioned the lack of pressure on low-cost airlines to implement their own repatriation plans after the meeting during which the low-cost airlines said they planned to resume normal flying as soon as possible and leave repatriation to the government.
Both companies have each had more than 100,000 customers stranded abroad over the last week, of those approximately half are from the UK.
Fontenla-Novoa and Long will be meeting Lord Adonis and the CAA again later today to reinforce these points.