Flight cancellations and delays have “got out of hand” from some airlines which have no accountability for their actions, according to Travel Village Group chief executive Phil Nuttall.
Nuttall told Travel Weekly’s Future of Travel Conference that any progress made in performance and communication during the Covid-19 pandemic had now disappeared, as he blasted unnamed carriers’ excuses for disruption.
Nuttall said the situation had got to a stage where travellers needed to have a back-up plan in place before their flights on the assumption their travel plans may not go as scheduled.
Nuttall said: “We had the airlines by the goolies in Covid and we let them go and look what’s happened. They’re more powerful than they ever were and they’re cancelling more flights than ever.”
Speakers on the same panel also urged airlines to invest in trade relations and their networks as they stressed the importance of rebuilding regional departure points.
Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of The Advantage Travel Partnership, said: “We don’t want to travel hours to an airport anymore. Consumers will determine where they want to go based on what’s available from their local airport.”
Sandra Corkin, managing director of Northern Irish agency chain Oasis Travel, said limited options from Belfast meant most customers now chose to cross the border to fly from Dublin.
“Because we want to be more creative, over 50% of our customers fly from Dublin with Ryanair,” she said.
“A lot of tour operators don’t want to package with Ryanair [but] I feel Ryanair does what it says on the tin and, compared with some of the airlines we would expect a much better service from, Ryanair has been dependable.”
She added: “They’re not an airline I love, but because they fly to so many places from Dublin, it’s sensible to use them.”
Photo: Phil Nuttall at Future of Travel 2024. (Credit: Alex Maguire Photography.)