A blame game has kicked off between the aviation industry and government over pre-Easter flight delays and cancellations, according to weekend media reports.
Sources quoted by the Telegraph blamed the sector for cutting thousands of jobs during the pandemic without planning for the return of higher travel demand.
This came as airlines face the prospect of a £100 million compensation bill following the cancellation of 1,200 flights in the past week and a similar number expected over the next seven days.
Carriers and airports say they have faced a combination of issues that have resulted in widespread staff shortages, not least long delays in completing counter-terrorism checks for new workers as the industry recovered services after Covid travel curbs were lifted.
The situation, which has led to long queues at airports such as Manchester and Heathrow, has been compounded by staff absences due to Covid illness.
One government source told the newspaper: “In part, I think this might be the travel industry trying to blame someone else for their own problems with absences created by Covid and how they have treated staff during the pandemic.”
Another reportedly said: “A lot of people were laid off despite furlough so you suddenly have a bow wave of vetting. I’m surprised they have been caught unawares with the volume of passenger because you would expect with al these [restrictions], that people having not gone abroad for ages would really be in the mood to travel.
“But even if you know it’s coming, it doesn’t just mean you can just recreate a workforce. It’s a massive surge in capacity. You’ve got to get them checked before you bring them on.”
Airport operators argued that they could not recruit while travel restrictions were in place. The rise in demand for travel as restrictions were lifted last month along with a backlog in security vetting and competition for jobs in other industries were all contributory factors.
Charlie Cornish, chief executive of Manchester airport owner MAG, admitted on Friday it had not been able to hire people quickly enough, with 250 new security staff not expected to start until early May.
In the meantime, waiting times will rise to between 60 and 90 minutes and he advised passengers to arrive at the airport three hours before flight departures.
Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh urged ministers to prioritise staff at Manchester and other big airports for Home Office security checks.
She told The Times: “Brits are facing a week of travel disruption and this Conservative government is missing in action. Tory ministers need to step up and act to ease the disruption.
“The government needs to begin clearing the huge backlogs in security checks so airport staff can safely begin work.”
A British Airways spokesperson said: “While the vast majority of our flights continue to operate as planned, as a precaution we’ve slightly reduced our schedule between now and the end of May.
“We’ve apologised to customers who are affected by this and to limit the inconvenience have re-booked them onto earlier or later flights on the same day they were originally due to travel were possible. We’re also offering the opportunity to book on to an alternative flight or request a full refund.”
How the situation is affecting easyJet is expected to be outlined when the airline issues a trading update tomorrow (Tuesday).