Brits face 12-month travel disruption following staff shortages
Brits need to brace up to 12 month of travel disruption as a result of ongoing staff shortages, industry experts said.
According to Kully Sandhu, Aviation Recruitment Network’s managing director, recovering from the current climate of airlines’ cancellations and airports’ disruption will take “at least the next 12 months.”
Covid and the impact of Brexit were highlighted by experts as the main reasons behind the disruption, which continues to rampage through the country’s travel network.
“Brexit has not helped because we had a natural attraction of individuals from the European market who would apply for vacancies in UK airports,” Sandhu told the BBC.
“We no longer have that talent pool, and we are relying on individuals in the UK. It makes it very difficult for recruiters to recruit these individuals because we are all fighting for the same type of candidates.”
Not everyone agreed to Sandhu’s predictions, as Francesco Ragni, aviation professor at Buckinghamshire New University, said disruption could end in a few months.
“Issues will continue throughout the summer,” he told Morning Wire “But traffic will ease in autumn and then the situation will become more stable.
“It really depends on what kind of solutions the industry will come up with.”
High levels of disruption were reported at major hubs such as Heathrow and Manchester airports, with travellers experiencing hour-long queues.
The London-based hub has been advising customers to arrive three hours before departure, as it can’t confirm the length of queues.
“We can’t confirm what the current queue times are, but our colleagues are on hand to assist Border Force wherever possible should queues build up,” Heathrow tweeted this morning.