UK worst affected by travel mayhem, experts warn
As queues, delays and cancellations continue to leave a sour taste in the mouth of thousands of travellers, experts have warned the issue is affecting the UK predominantly.
According to aviation analyst Sally Gethin, while Britain is not the only country struggling, the UK’s aviation sector was more beaten down by the pandemic compared with its EU counterparts.
“The UK suffered devastating losses in its airline and travel sector with no financial government lifeline beyond furlough and limited support – so that the industry was forced to cut jobs on a massive scale to survive,” she told City PM
Gethin also added that the country opened more quickly compared with other EU countries – who had a phased approach – and left “airlines and airports having to cope with massive pent up demand.”
Compared with major EU airports such as Paris’s Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam’s Schiphol and Frankfurt airport, Heathrow’s passenger demand soared following the end of travel restrictions.
Passenger numbers at the London hub jumped from 2.9 million in February to 4.2 million a month later, reaching 5 million travellers last month.
A boom in demand meant that over the last few days hundreds of thousands of Britons set to go on half-term and Jubilee Bank Holiday getaways were left stranded because of travel chaos.
Travellers complained of hour-long queues at some of the country’s major hubs – including Manchester, Heathrow and Liverpool – while others were furious after airlines such as easyJet and TUI cancelled dozens of flights.
EasyJet yesterday cancelled 42 flights after axing more than 200 during the weekend while TUI warned customers their flight would no longer depart at the very last minute.
To cope with staff shortages, the German carrier said on Tuesday it would continue cutting six flights per day until the end of June.
The situation gained prominence following a back and forth between the industry and the government.
Transport minister Andrew Stephenson said the government was working alongside the sector to ease pressures, but stressed that it was up to airlines and airports to make sure they had enough people to process pent-up demand.
“It is for the airports to plan and recruit enough people in order to deal with the significant increases in people flying which we have been expecting for some time,” he told Sky News.
Stephenson’s words came as a government source said the situation was “completely unacceptable” while shadow financial secretary James Murray accused the government of failing to prepare for the rise in travel demand.
Francesco Ragni, professor of aviation at Buckinghamshire New University, said we should not blame Downing Street for what is going on.
“The government has reopened borders and scrapped testing requirements, essentially doing what the industry has been asking for months. Airlines and airports have been caught unprepared,” he told City PM
“They either underestimated how demand for air travel was going to re-bounce or didn’t realise that employees laid off during the pandemic were not exactly waiting to be called back to work.”