Aviation sources insist UK operations are going “pretty well” despite continuing staff shortages leading to flight cancellations and delays at check-in.
They highlight congestion at check-in and delays at airports across Europe as major factors behind a spate of cancellations and delays but insist media reports of these give a false impression of what most travellers can expect.
A leading aviation source insisted “things have gone pretty well on the UK airport side” ahead of the Jubilee bank holiday despite problems at some airlines.
The source said: “Airlines had trouble last weekend and there are significant ground-handling issues at check-in because of staff shortages and Covid document checks.
“The ground-handling companies are still the weakest point, and there is still an issue of passengers turning up at check-in too early.”
The source added: “Delays at European airports are causing a lot of late inbound flights. Several airlines are flagging problems at European airports causing delays.”
The government weighed in with criticism of the sector, with an unnamed government source denouncing flight delays and cancellations as “completely unacceptable”.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps was today quoted as saying: “Despite government warnings, operators seriously oversold flights and holidays relative to their capacity to deliver. This must not happen again, and all efforts should be directed at there being no repeat of this over the summer.”
Tui announced the cancellation of as many as six flights a day from Manchester airport through to the end of June as it and ground handler Swissport struggle with a shortage of staff.
The company apologised to the 37,000 passengers affected, promising they would be contacted in departure order and receive full refunds.
Tui sought to reassure other customers, saying: “The remainder of our flying programme is expected to operate as planned.”
EasyJet had already cancelled 240 flights from Gatwick over 10 days to June 6 blaming “a range of issues pushing crew outside their permitted working hours”.
An easyJet spokeswoman described an IT failure which led to a further 200 cancellations last week as a “one off”. She insisted: “Cancellation is not a decision we take lightly, but it is a small proportion of our programme. We continue to operate 1,700 flights a day.”
Gatwick reported seven cancellations out of 790 flights at the start of this week, describing this as “a normal rate”.
A spokesman acknowledged: “There were issues at check-in at the weekend. [But] security has generally been fine. Our recruitment is going well.
“We get one period a day where the wait time at security is about 30 minutes, but it clears within half an hour. Things are going well considering there are issues across Europe.”
A Manchester airport spokesman also reported that any issues at the airport “were at check in” and said: “Security was fine over the weekend.
“We’re aware of challenges facing a number of airlines and handling agents leading to delays at check-in and baggage reclaim for some passengers. It remains our advice that passengers should arrive three hours before their flight.”
British Airways said media reports of cancellations by the carrier “aren’t new”, insisting: “They were planned and actioned a month and a half ago and customers notified.”
BA decided in April to reduce its schedule by 10% until the end of October.
A second aviation source insisted: “This is not the time for a blame game. It’s time to pull together. There have been issues across the sector. We’re doing everything we can to pre-empt crises. We’re all part of the rebuild.”
However, the Unite union warned delays would be “worse” during the summer, blaming “chronic staff shortages”.
Unite and the GMB union announced strike ballots of BA check-in and ground staff at Heathrow on Monday in a dispute over pay, with any strikes likely in July.