The managing director of Exeter Airport has said it has had to recruit more permanent staff to traditionally seasonal roles, which could lead to higher travel prices.
The airport launched a recruitment drive at the start of the year, creating 30 jobs ahead of the holiday season which saw the start of new flight routes to North America.
Stephen Wiltshire told BBC Radio 4 - which reported there are currently a record 12,000 job vacancies in Devon - that it had had to take on more year-round workers, as customers returned to airports with the easing of Covid travel restrictions.
Mr Wiltshire added the airport, which in February employed around 240 people, had redeployed employees to other parts of its operations to ensure its “resilience” and to reduce any impact on customers, with fire service crew used to help with baggage handling.
He explained the current job market meant the airport was competing for workers looking for permanent roles, having left full-time jobs and unable to rely on seasonal work.
Mr Wiltshire, who was appointed managing director of Exeter Airport in December 2021, confirmed this would mean increased operating costs for the airport throughout the year, during off-peak travel periods when it is less busy.
Mr Wiltshire said: “It impacts the financial position [of the airport] and we’ve found this winter we had to retain staff, which ordinarily we may have let go at the end of furlough. So there’s going to be a knock-on effect eventually through the system in terms of consumer cost.”
Accounts for Exeter and Devon Airport Ltd for the year to March 31, 2021, showed a 73% fall in turnover, down from £24.2m to £6.4m, leading to an operating loss of £3.3m - a huge 531% increase on the £528,000 loss made in the previous, non-Covid, year.
Passenger numbers plummeted to 27,000 from 953,000 and the 21,000 flights were fewer than half the number in 2019/20 (43,000).
But the airport has recovered and has 29 UK and international destinations available from Exeter as it builds back its route network following the pandemic, including recently launched flights to Belfast.
As a smaller regional hub Exeter Airport has not experienced the type of disruption seen recently in other airports around the country such as Manchester Airport.
Exeter Airport does not outsource any of its operations from baggage handling right the way through to air traffic control. Mr Wiltshire suggested airports across the country would benefit from greater access to training for jobs which were harder to fill.
Mr Wiltshire said: “We’ve trained our air traffickers mostly in house and put them through college and training, but I think access to the apprenticeship scheme would be very helpful, particularly in Exeter’s case, and more nationally. At the moment there’s no approved provider for air traffic controller apprenticeship courses.”
Exeter Airport is owned and operated by Regional and City Airports (RCA), part of Rigby Group plc.
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