Jet2 chief executive Steve Heapy has insisted issues causing travel delays “will improve” as the industry addresses staff shortages and said the current situation is “as bad as it will get”.
Heapy told a Travel Weekly webcast the industry should still feel optimistic about the summer as he said most customers were still enjoying their holiday experiences.
He was speaking following extensive media reports of disruption at airports, including flight delays and cancellations.
On Tuesday, Tui confirmed it would cut up to six flights a day from Manchester over the next month, citing operational difficulties.
Heapy said: “This is about as bad as it will get – I think everything will start to improve from here. All the companies I know are working on recruiting people, so things will get better.”
He added: “These issues are temporary. We are very optimistic for the future. Let’s get customers in and give them a fantastic experience.”
Heapy also encouraged agents to continue booking holidays and said Jet2 had not had to cancel flights despite some services being subject to “lengthy delays”.
“I would urge agents to go ahead and book holidays,” he said. “We will do our best to get people away and haven’t cancelled a single flight so far. We have had quite lengthy delays, but we tend not to cancel. We like to get people away on holiday and bring them home.”
In a statement issued in response to reports of disruption, Jet2 said the majority of delays experienced by customers were at areas such as security which were “completely outside of our control”.
It also pointed to fully-staffed check-in desks as a point of difference with other airlines, in addition to assistance teams at airports and in resort, as it said it was receiving “positive feedback from many happy customers”.