The airline sector has a “serious problem” trying to recruit more staff, the chief executive of Airlines UK has admitted.
Speaking during a panel debate at Advantage Travel Partnership’s conference in Madeira, Tim Alderslade labelled labour a “big issue” as some UK airports struggle to cope with returning demand.
“There’s a huge number of challenges [to overcome in the industry] and labour will be a real issue moving forward, and not just in the short term,” he said.
“It’s going to be a difficult few months as the labour just isn’t there, and it will take a number of years to get back to where we were.”
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Alderslade added Airlines UK is currently “learning the lessons from Easter,” when airports were forced to cancel flights and customers faced lengthy check-in queues due to numerous factors including staff shortages, and “recognising that we’ve got a serious problem”.
He said it could be a “really difficult few years ahead” if the sector doesn’t “get it [recruitment] right,” adding he is in talks with government to try about how to attract more workers to the industry.
“There’s a big conversation going on at the moment with government on how we can get people who want to come into the industry quicker,” he added.
One reason for the recruitment struggles, he said, is because people who left the sector during the Covid pandemic do not want to return.
“Let’s not forget that a lot of this is years in the making. I don’t want to go back to Brexit but we just don’t have access to the labour that we used to,” he said.
“Aviation is a difficult sector and it’s not always an attractive sector; you could be getting up at 5am to go and stand on an airport track, for example.
“People have left aviation to go and work in other parts of the economy and realised, ‘I’ve got a better life doing this’.
“The question is how do we make aviation and travel attractive proposition for young British people coming through, because that’s what the government wants to talk about.
“I don’t have the answers, but unless we get it right, it’s going to be a really difficult few years.”
These views were echoed by Advantage chief executive Julia Lo-Bue Said, who was also on the panel.
She said staff who have left the industry have “become accustomed” to their new work-life balance, adding they would rather “work in an industry with more certainty”.
The industry needs to promote the “amazing opportunities and benefits” of the sector to attract new people, she added.