The government must take its share of responsibility for the challenges facing the aviation sector after failing to support the industry fully during the pandemic, according to industry leaders.
Speaking on a Travel Weekly webcast, Jet2 chief executive Steve Heapy said ministers’ “scant” understanding of the industry and the government’s approach to lockdowns and travel restrictions had led to the sector appearing “unattractive”.
He argued this in turn had contributed to staff shortages which have been blamed for disruption and cancellations during the half-term holiday.
He said: “I think government ministers need to realise that, because of the pandemic and the actions that were taken, they’ve made the travel industry not a very attractive one to work in. It was the first industry to go into lockdown and the last industry to come out. It’s because of those actions that it’s no longer got the attraction that it used to have.
“I think that’s a problem that the government needs to get involved in solving. It must help the industry get back on its feet and improve the perception because lots of people left the industry and didn’t come back.
“We got some support during the pandemic, but not as much as the industry asked for. The government should be working with us to help the industry recover by giving us confidence that we’re not going back into lockdown.”
MORE: Government using aviation ‘as a punch bag’ to distract from own failings
Heapy’s comments came after junior minister Lord Stephen Parkinson pinned the blame for disruption on the travel industry, telling Sky News: “There have been many months where we have been back on track. The industry should have been recruiting people.”
Heapy responded: “Ministers have a very scant understanding of the recruitment process, the seasonality of the industry and the work that’s involved in getting people their airside passes. Perhaps they should swot up on those particular subjects.”
He added: “I remember the government not being prepared and making decisions at five minutes’ notice, closing airspaces. We’re still recovering from the uncertainty they caused.”
On Wednesday morning, transport secretary Grant Shapps was quoted by The Telegraph as saying: “We will be meeting with airports, airlines and ground handlers again to find out what’s gone wrong and how they are planning to end the current run of cancellations and delays.
“Despite government warnings, operations seriously oversold flights and holidays relative to their capacity to deliver. This must not happen again, and all efforts must be directed at there being no repeat of this over the summer.
“Government has done its part. It is now on airports, airlines and ground handlers to make sure everyone’s well deserved holidays can go ahead free from the major disruption we’ve seen in recent days.”
But Heapy’s comments were echoed by other industry leaders, who accused the government of failing to understand the sector.
Aito Agents chair Gemma Antrobus tweeted: “When we asked for sector specific support it wasn’t out of greed or selfishness, it was so we could retain our talent and ensure we were robust when the demand came back. Look what’s happened now!”
Sunvil managing director Chris Wright insisted that the government was warned that without tailored support the industry would struggle to recover quickly when demand returned.
He tweeted: “Closed terminals to full operations isn’t easy. Maybe the their house in order missing passports and more staff at the borders before pointing the finger?
“There can’t be many industries where so many suppliers need to work together so closely with a delay at any point causing huge knock on consequences.
“The reality is, with EU261 payments kicking in after such a short time, it is often better to cancel a flight knowing you can operate the next rotation on time than take continual hits on flight after flight – prime example of regulations making it worse for the consumer.”
ATD Travel Services chief executive Oliver Brendon added: “Government is once again blaming the travel industry for the chaos. ‘They had the furlough scheme so didn’t need to lay people off during Covid.’ Erm, no. We had to keep most people employed to amend, refund and communicate the ever-changing, illogical gov’t restrictions.
“Consequently, costs in the outbound travel sector remained disproportionately high and travel companies had to make cost savings to survive. Hence why we were demanding sector-specific support which was consistently ignored. Gov’t policy = travel chaos.”
Business Travel Association chief executive Clive Wratten also took to Twitter and said: “Holidays illegal, travel stopped, government indecisions, refusal of sector support, no clue of travel restart, different restrictions country by country, no idea on post Covid travel trends, eco system dormant, traffic lights, testing, Brexit & issues on restart are a surprise.”
Aviation and travel expert Sally Gethin tweeted a picture from the Travel Day of Action last June, saying: “The government is blaming the aviation and travel industry for the current chaos. They were warned this time last year of impending trouble if they did not support and help the industry instead of making it worse.”
On Tuesday, Clive Jactobs, chairman of Travel Weekly parent Jacobs Media Group, accused the government of using the industry as a “punch bag” to distract from its own failings.
He said: “The government’s behaviour is despicable. They are using the industry as a punch bag to deflect from their own despicable behaviour around one rule for them and another for everyone else.
“They’re showing contempt by attacking companies which have been through the greatest stress.”