The boss of no-frills airline Ryanair has warned that flight delays and cancellations will continue “right throughout the summer” as airports suffer amid continuing staff shortages. Chief executive Michael O’Leary said passengers should brace for a “less than satisfactory experience”, with flight delays predicted to last across the peak season and some airlines cancelling up to 10 per cent of flights.
He told Sky News: “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.”
Mr O'Leary said 99 per cent of Ryanair flights are getting away and that the experience was so far better at its Stansted base than other UK airports, but admitted it will be a “struggle through the summer”. He blamed the problems on shortages of airport staff across air traffic control, baggage handling and security.
However, he warned that Ryanair was not immune to the issues, with 25 per cent of its flights delayed by air traffic control issues last weekend and a further 15 per cent by airport handling delays. He said Brexit was compounding the disruption caused as demand ramps up after pandemic restrictions were lifted, with airports unable to hire workers from abroad to fill posts.
He continued: “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.”
The comments come after Heathrow asked airlines on Monday to cut 10 per cent of flights at two terminals, while easyJet started cancelling thousands of summer flights. The move by Heathrow affected around 5,000 passengers at Terminals 2 and 3 on approximately 30 flights.
Images emerged on Friday of a huge pile-up of passengers’ luggage amid a baggage handling IT failure to add to passenger woes with delays and cancelled flights. Other airports have reported lengthy queues to navigate security and passengers waiting hours to reclaim baggage.
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