Disruption at UK airports could continue for another 18 months due to the post-Covid pandemic staffing crisis, the chief executive of Heathrow said on Wednesday.
The warning from John Holland-Kaye comes as passengers endure daily cancellations due to staff shortages across the sector after hundreds of thousands were fired during pandemic lockdowns to cut costs.
“What we saw in some airports over the past few weeks is that supply and demand were out of balance… we need to make sure we are planning much better,” he told a conference organised by the Financial Times newspaper.
Holland-Kaye said it would take “12 to 18 months for the aviation sector to fully recover capacity”.
While the industry struggles to recruit staff, travel demand has surged after restrictions were eased earlier this year.
The scale of the problem was highlighted on Wednesday by Hungary-based budget airline Wizz Air, which said it expected to make a first-quarter loss despite high summer demand for its flights.
Passenger numbers more than doubled to 27.1m in the year to March 31. Wizz chief executive Jozsef Varadi also warned ticket prices could rise by as much as 10% this summer as a result of increasing demand.
“Shortages of staff in air traffic control, security and other parts of the supply chain are impacting airlines, our employees and our customers directly,” Varadi said.
Huw Merriman, chairman of the House of Commons cross-party transport select committee said that the industry was facing a “perfect storm”.
“I think there’s been a failure to understand that you can’t just flick a switch and expect the aviation industry to restart,” he told the BBC.
“They only had the full go-ahead on March 18. There’s a requirement for them to operate 70% of their slots, otherwise they could lose them.”
Ministers had urged the sector to rapidly ramp up capacity to pre-pandemic levels despite knowing it takes three months to recruit and vet new staff, he said.
The sector was one of the few not to receive a major financial support package from the government, despite repeated pleas.
