The Civil Aviation Authority and the Department for Transport have issued a joint letter to airlines and airports urging them to improve resilience planning to avoid a repeat of recent disruption during the summer peak season.
The letter, from CAA chief executive Richard Moriarty and Rannia Leontaridi, the DfT’s director general for aviation, maritime and security, outlines five areas of improvement and insists “the outcomes for too many consumers recently have been unacceptable”.
Moriarty and Leontaridi acknowledge that some airlines and airports were able to deliver a good service during recent holiday periods, and also noted that some of the delays were caused by external circumstances including air traffic control delays in other countries.
However, they insisted: “It is imperative that we see an improvement to the resilience in the system, planning and scheduling to reflect the available capacity ahead of the summer period.”
And they added: “Our expectation is that you and all those involved in delivering aviation services will take all possible steps to prepare for and manage passenger demand that helps to avoid the unacceptable scenes we have recently witnessed.”
The five specific expectations covered in the letter are:
- Each airline to review its plans for the summer season to “develop a schedule that is deliverable” based on available resources and “resilient for the unplanned and inevitable operational challenges that you will face”. The guidance also calls for cancellations to be made well in advance where unavoidable.
- Airport chief executives to take leading roles in bringing together all airport partners – including airlines, ground handlers, controllers and Border Force – to “work collaboratively on resilience planning and assurance as a system and not just in isolation”. Working groups will be required to report to a Strategic Risk Group chaired weekly by the aviation minister.
- Passengers impacted by delays should be communicated with clearly and regularly, including being provided with clear guidance on their consumer rights around refunds and compensation. It adds: “If there is evidence that an airline is systematically letting consumers down when it comes to those rights, the CAA will not hesitate to escalate matters with its enforcement role.”
- Improvement in assistance to disabled and less mobile passengers. It adds: “The CAA has separately written a letter to all airports and airlines highlighting some specific concerns about the assistance service for disabled and less mobile passengers and the importance of immediate improvements.”
- Assurance that safety and security must not be compromised as a result of disruption.
The letter says the government’s Strategic Risk and Summer Resilience Groups will continue to engage with the sector to ensure improvements.
And it concluded: “We look forward to working with you to get the UK aviation system back where it belongs as a world leading, strategically important industry that we can all be very proud of. Both the Department and the CAA will play our full roles in our aim of ensuring the recovery for air travel is a success.
“Let’s start with working together to make sure the summer is a great success for the British public.”