People flying to and from the UK have faced more disruption with flights cancelled by easyJet and Wizz Air on Sunday. Despite the chaos continuing, the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has rebuffed suggestions of calling in the Army or relaxing Brexit rules to let European aviation worker into the UK.
In a statement, easyJet said: "We are very sorry and fully understand the disruption this will have caused for our customers.
"We are doing all possible to fly them as soon as possible to their destination."
The BBC reported the airline as saying the cancellations, which include flights to Gatwick from Spain, France, Northern Ireland, Portugal and Scotland come amid the "ongoing challenging operating environment". A smaller number of BA and Wizz Air flights to Gatwick were also cancelled on Sunday.
Earlier today, Grant Shapps said cheaper labour could not always be the solution to sector difficulties and argued that the aviation industry had “cut too far” when laying off staff during the coronavirus pandemic.
Asked whether he would temporarily allow more foreign workers into the industry to alleviate staffing pressures, the Transport Secretary told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme: “The answer can’t always be to reach for the lever marked, ‘More immigration’.
“In fact, in Europe they have got exactly the same problems. If you look at the problems they are having in Amsterdam this weekend, there are problems across Europe.
“There is not some pull that is going to relieve this.”
On fixing the issues, he said: “The industry itself needs to solve it, the Government doesn’t run airports, it doesn’t run airlines – the industry needs to do that.
“We did, of course, provide £8 billion of support to the sector, plus all that furlough money as well.
“So, the decision as to whether to lay off in the end were the airlines’ decisions and clearly now looking back they cut too far on that, but they are re-employing.”
He also said he did not anticipated the Army being brought in. He said: “The Army is not a snap solution to every problem.
"Secondly they are being deployed in increasing numbers to eastern Europe, to the Baltics, in what is a war situation and that’s what the Army are principally there for.
“The airports and airlines will need to sort out this problem. The Government will give them every support, but I don’t anticipate that will include calling in the Army.”
