Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has claimed ongoing issues at airports around the country are "not huge chaos" despite thousands of passengers facing disruption. The budget airline boss spoke to Sky News about the disruption that has been caused at airports, including in Bristol, in recent weeks.
Passengers have recently experienced long queues around airports due to staffing issues as business returns to normal following the Covid pandemic, with airlines trying to fill the gaps. It has led to lots of flights being either delayed, rescheduled or cancelled, causing holiday headaches for many.
However, in his interview with Sky News, Mr O'Leary asserted "it's not huge chaos". He added that it was "important to keep some context, 99 per cent of flights are getting away" and concluded: "This is part of the recovery of two years of Covid lockdowns."
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But the airline boss went onto warn that disruption to air travel will continue "right throughout the summer" as airports suffer with staff shortages. He added that passengers should brace for a "less than satisfactory experience", with delays to their travel expected to last throughout peak holiday season and some airlines cancelling between five per cent and 10 per cent of flights.
He told Sky News this was "deeply regrettable" and added: "This problem is going to continue particularly at airports like Gatwick and Heathrow right throughout the summer. It will be worse at weekends and better during the week."
However, he was urging viewers to see the silver-lining saying that 99 per cent of Ryanair flights are "getting away", but admitted it will be a "struggle through the summer". Mr O’Leary blamed the problems on shortages of airport staff across air traffic control, baggage handling and security.
He said that Ryanair was not immune to the issues, with last weekend seeing 25 per cent of flights delayed by air traffic control issues and a further 15 per cent by airports handling delays. O'Leary also blamed Brexit saying it was adding to the disruption as airports are unable to hire workers from abroad to fill posts.
O'Leary said: "There are hundreds of thousands of jobs in the UK that frankly British workers don’t want to do. These problems will not be resolved until we start allowing people in to do the jobs."
On Monday, Heathrow airport asked airlines to cull 10 per cent of flights at two of its terminals, while easyJet began cancelling thousands of summer flights. Around 5,000 passengers where affected by the move at Terminals 2 and 3 spread over approximately 30 flights.
