Gatwick travellers warned airport chaos 'likely to last all summer'

The union Unite says that the aviation industry is facing chronic staff shortages and maintains that it is ‘paying the price of mass sackings during the pandemic.’

Unite, which represents tens of thousands of aviation workers, says that it expects that delays at most major airports that occurred during the Easter holidays will be repeated next week during the half-term holidays – and will be even worse during the summer holidays.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said that the union had warned this would happen after staff were laid off.

"The aftermath of mass sackings is now chronic staff shortages across the board.,” she said.

"Aviation chiefs need to come clean with the public. This is a crisis of their making.”

She said current pay and conditions in the industry were poor and that workers were voting with their feet.

She added that claims by airport operators that recent problems were due to delays in the government issuing airside security passes were “nothing more than a smokescreen.”

She said industry experts had highlighted that the aviation sector should have been recruiting staff for this summer by early this year.

"So, the blame for the current chaos lies with the aviation bosses and their failure to see what was coming.”

Unite says it has successfully won pay increases for workers at Heathrow, Gatwick and Glasgow airports.

The union says that problems being experienced by the aviation sector have been demonstrated by both easyJet and British Airways which had recently announced they were flying with fewer cabin crew and taking rows of seats out of their planes.

And the union maintains that airline bosses are now trying to alleviate the crisis by getting staff to work overtime.

Unite national officer Oliver Richardson said: "Unite will not accept our members being forced by their employers to work excessive overtime.

"Relying on staff overtime to run the business can’t be a long-term solution. Until the sector addresses the fundamental structural problems it has the delays, cancellations and chaos will continue.”