Senior industry figures have issued renewed calls for the government to add aviation to the ‘shortage occupation list’ to bypass immigration rules and end the labour shortages in the sector.
Heathrow chief of staff Nigel Milton argued “some of the solutions open to our EU colleagues” to address the disruption in aviation “are not open to us” following Brexit.
He told a UK Trade and Business Commission hearing on ‘The Brexit challenges facing travel’ on Thursday (July 22): “European airports are having similar problems. It’s difficult to nail [the disruption] down as a Brexit problem. But the issue having most impact is that the current skilled worker visa list does not allow for many airport roles – not security control, not baggage handling.
“These are the roles that are under-resourced.”
John Geddes, head of corporate affairs at airport ground handler Menzies Aviation, told the commission: “We would love freedom of movement for workers.”
Prior to the pandemic, he said: “We probably had up to 30% EU workers in baggage handling [at UK airports].”
He insisted: “We’re pretty well staffed now, but we have a skills shortage and a supervisory shortage. We would love to fill these from overseas, but we can’t.
“We need a relaxation of immigration for sure.”
Abta director of public affairs Luke Petherbridge argued: “This is about labour mobility more generally. We’re seeing a lot of barriers to moving staff around Europe.
“The limit of 90 days in 180 [that UK nationals can stay in the EU without a visa] is creating real operational challenges for coach drivers, tour guides, travel reps.
“Coach operator staff spend upwards of 200 days a year abroad. Operators are either going to have to hire more staff and charge more or hire only EU workers. “
Petherbridge warned: “The natural outcome will be for operators to exclude UK workers from the roles. The government needs to step up and engage with the industry on this.”
He noted: “The industry asked the government for aviation critical roles to be added to the shortage occupation list. The government was not prepared to do that.
“The industry as a whole would benefit from clearer routes to immigration [and] the government needs to look again at labour mobility between the UK and EU.”
Travel journalist Simon Calder insisted: “Covid camouflaged an awful lot of Brexit. The Brexit impact has been massive. Partly, it has been so much more difficult to travel.”
Calder accused “some Abta members” of “passing on incorrect passport rules” in Europe “based on what the government has said, which has made things worse”.
He argued: “Brexit means costs are going to be disproportionately higher as the labour pool is smaller.
“There is an enormous amount of consumer detriment going on because of labour shortages and skills shortages. Aviation desperately needs to be added to the list of industries to which relaxed rules need to apply.”
The UK Trade and Business Commission was set up in 2021 by a cross-party group of MPs and business leaders opposed to Brexit.
It issued a press release following the hearing, saying: “Brexit is leaving the travel industry in disarray ahead of the sector’s busiest season, with labour shortages, red-tape and increased costs post-Brexit leaving the sector struggling to meet demand and consumers facing price hikes.”
German airports have recruited 2,000 airport workers from Turkey to try to alleviate the disruption. However, the German Airports Association (ADV) acknowledged these workers could not relieve the burden at check-in and security.
Meanwhile, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary urged the government to take a more “practical, common sense” approach to post-Brexit policy, to allow more workers from Europe to fill vacancies.
O’Leary said he could hire people from continental Europe for jobs that he cannot fill with British workers, but is unable to get visas for them.
Facilitating such visas would help ease disruption to air travel, he said.
The government said it wanted firms to invest in workers from the UK.
O’Leary said: “I can hire thousands of people in Portugal, in Italy, France, Germany at exactly the same wages that I’m paying in the UK and I just can’t hire them in the UK at the moment.
“And we have this bizarre situation at the moment that in the UK I can get visas to bring Moroccans to come in and work as cabin crew. But I can’t get visas for Portuguese or Italians or Slovakian youngsters.
“We just need a bit of more common sense and a practical approach to how we implement Brexit,” he told BBC Radio 4.