Recovery of the aviation sector could up to 18 months due to the time it will take to rehire staff and return operations to pre-pandemic levels, according to the boss of Heathrow.
The London hub’s chief executive accepted airlines and airports needed to “plan much better” to avoid further cancellations and delays this summer, and to give passengers enough advance notice if their flight was affected.
He reportedly told the Financial Times’ Global Boardroom conference: “I think it will take 12 to 18 months for the aviation sector to fully recover capacity, so we will have to really carefully manage supply and demand … to make sure we can give people a good and predictable experience.
“What we saw in some airports in the UK over the past few weeks is that supply and demand were out of balance. We need to make sure we are planning much better.”
Heathrow has asked airlines to cut passenger numbers at some times of the day over the summer to ease overcrowding, while some airlines have cut their flight schedules from major airports to try to avoid too many last-minute cancellations.
Transport select committee chairman Hew Merriman called for immediate reforms that would entitle passengers to automatic compensation, instead of putting the onus on them to apply.
“It should be the responsibility of the airline and not the consumer to apply for compensation. Why should they have to go through the rigmarole of filling out fiendishly complicated forms?” he said.
Merriman said that on past performance, airlines had proven they were unreliable and inconsistent over getting compensation for their customers.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) “urgently requires fining power so it can act as a guardian for consumers,” he added.
But Iata director general Willie Walsh criticised politicians’ response to airline problems.
He told the Paris Air Forum that travel companies had feared new Covid-19 restrictions.
“You have the politicians saying airlines should have ramped up sooner,” he said. “No, they shouldn’t. Airlines would have gone out of business had they done what these idiot politicians are saying they should have done.”
Further flight disruption is expected today (Wednesday) due to Italian industrial action.
EasyJet warned: “We are aware of possible multiple strike actions planned in Italy on Wednesday impacting air traffic services.
“Like all airlines operating to and from Italy, we may see some disruption to our flying programme on this date.
“We advise customers due to travel to, from or within Italy on 8 June to check the status of their flights on our Flight Tracker on our mobile app or website at www.easyjet.com.
“Although this is outside of our control, we would like to reassure customers that we are doing all possible to minimise any disruption that may occur as a result of the strike action.”