Manchester Airport said travel firm and airline Tui and its handling agent Swissport, "are experiencing temporary staff shortages, in common with other aviation and travel companies" Swissport apologised for its part in any disruption, adding that the return of demand for flights was "exacerbating resource challenges across the aviation industry.".
The ongoing issues have caused the holiday giant Tui to axe six flights a day from Manchester until the end of June, hurting the travel arrangements of around 34,000 travellers. Tui promised those customers affected by cancellations are scheduled to get a full refund as well as an extra gesture of goodwill travel voucher. Whilst the company said "We believe this is necessary to provide stability and a better customer service at Manchester Airport." it still boasted that the axed flights were only about 4% of its operational schedule.
UK's Chancellor Rishi Sunak stated today that the government was currently working with the travel industry to address the issues "We put in place billions of pounds of support for the travel industry, in particular during the pandemic. Right now there are conversations happening between the industry and ministers to make sure disruption can be eased."
Airline associations and trade bodies are hitting out, some blaming the government others blaming airports and others blaming passengers. IATA - the International Air Transport Association blamed the disruption on the government, saying getting clearances for new staff was taking too long. Former British Airways and IAG boss, Willie Walsh, said it was now taking as long as three months to get security badges for new employees in the UK, compared with three to four weeks previously.
There is a general pilot shortage throughout the airline industry around the world, particularly prevalent in the U.S. which may have had some impact on staffing levels, however, many companies have not taken a conservative approach to restarting full flight operations. Many airlines, trying to recoup as much money as possible because of the months of lost revenue over the pandemic meant they have rescheduled flights to the same level and in some cases more than the pre-covid levels, without having the staff to both crew and administer the service. Many airlines, such as British Airways, easyJet and over in the U.S. American and Delta have all had to axe flights from their summer schedule because of a lack of staff.
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