Clouds over Summer holiday plans: Whom to blame?
Written by Kunal Sawhney, CEO, Kalkine
Holidaymakers and airline travellers are going to have another tumultuous holiday season. After the kayos during Easter, the peak tourism season of Summer is all set to get spoiled as one of the busiest airports, Heathrow has asked airlines to stop selling summer tickets. Also, it has imposed a daily passenger limit of 100,000 people departing the airport, effective 12 July till 11 September.
In an open letter to passengers, Heathrow, a major international airport in London, has said that the regular passenger limit at the airport has crossed 100,000 a day for the last time. It resulted in drop-in services with complaints of a long queue time, piles of bags at the airport, bags not travelling with the passengers and other lack of services and staff being overworked.
What has been causing disruptions at airports?
For the last some time, there has been chaos across different airports of the nation; thousands of flights have been cancelled, with passengers facing severe disruptions and long check-in queues. After the pandemic, staff shortages have been one of the biggest problems that plagued the hospitality business, especially aviation.
There was a sudden surge in travel demand, and a clear lack of preparedness was evident, with airports and airlines failing to gauge them. Covid lockdown led to many staffs leaving the job or furloughed staff opting for different jobs, while at the same time, airports and airlines were unable to recruit new staff. When people are people seeking to make up for vacations lost during the pandemic, the aviation sector is unable to meet the resurgent demand amid labour shortages and strikes.
Though it is not a localised problem, disruptions have been witnessed across Europe during the spring, whether it be in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Rome or Paris.
What is causing a delay in hiring?
As per some reports, the aviation sector alone witnessed a loss of 2.3 million jobs globally during the pandemic, and the ground and security segment getting hit the most due to lockdowns. Security clearance of airport or aviation sector staff is one of the major reasons cited for the problem. Even the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has pointed this out. According to it, congestion at UK airports is primarily due to the increased time clearance for new staff. It has been said that earlier, three to four weeks was the time duration for getting a security badge, but now it takes as long as three months for the same.
The aviation industry is saying that if they hire someone, they have to wait for three months to start training them, as training can’t start without getting a security clearance.
Is the government also to be blamed for the chaotic situation?
The UK government, on its part, has said that the Department for Transport had forecasted this situation and had been urging the travel industry for a long back to make sure that they had enough staff to cater to the resurgence of demand and backlog of cancelled holidays.
The government has even denied the charges of delay in giving security clearances and has said that there are delays for clearances to new security staff; rather the aviation industry’s vetting applications have been prioritized.
The government has though increased travellers’ woes by announcing an amnesty to the rules on airport slots. Airlines have been permitted to change their summer timetables without facing any severe penalty.
Final thoughts
Whatever may be the reason, it is not the time for a blame game, and the situation needs to be normalised with the coordinated efforts of the industry and the government. This Summer’s travel forecasts are considerably more optimistic than at any time in the last two years; with a notable recovery in tourist activity, holiday makers’ plans should not all be ruined.
