The chairman of Heathrow Airport, Lord Paul Deighton, has laid the blame for travel chaos on airlines failing to recruit enough baggage handlers.
He said wages were not being paid at market rate and that had led to a shortage of staff. He said the whole travel industry was "grappling" with the legacy of surviving during the pandemic with no income.
European airports, particularly Heathrow, have struggled to get into gear since Covid-19 travel restrictions were dropped. Passengers have endured last-minute flight cancellations, huge queues at check-in and security, and missing luggage. It was given an ultimatum by the UK government to fix the problems swiftly.
Last week, Heathrow introduced a 100,000 daily passenger limit in an attempt to manage the disruption and ordered airlines to rip up their schedules.
This was met by resistance from some airlines, notably Emirates, which said it had enough ground crew in place and should not have to cancel flights due to Heathrow's inability to cope. Emirates' president Sir Tim Clark told Farnborough Airshow on Monday that anyone who behaved in that unacceptable fashion "would feel its wrath".
Decades of flight: Heathrow through the years - in pictures
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Heathrow Airport in London, the UK's busiest, has been a travel hub for decades. Here The National takes a look back at Heathrow through the years. All photos: Getty Images -
An Airco De Havilland biplane of the British airline, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, about to leave on the company’s inaugural flight from Hounslow Heath Aerodrome, later known as Heathrow, to Le Bourget, Paris, in August 1919 -
Waterlogged runways at London Airport - Heathrow's original name - one week before it became Britain's main aerial gateway to the US in 1946 -
The new BOAC maintenance headquarters at London Airport circa 1955 -
The air traffic control room at the airport's new terminal in 1955 -
US film star Marilyn Monroe with her husband, playwright Arthur Miller, after arriving at the airport in July 1956 -
An aerial view showing the runways in 1958 -
The arrivals and departures board in 1960 -
A new airport gift shop, selling items by Chanel, Wedgwood and Pringle of Scotland, in 1961 -
The Queen's Building and the No. 1 Building Europa at Heathrow in 1965 -
The Beatles leave Heathrow for Salzburg in Austria, to resume filming of the movie Help!, in 1965 -
Passenger terminal gates at Heathrow in 1966 -
Keith Granville, managing director of BOAC, holding up a model of the Boeing 747 jet, with the new aircraft hangars under construction in the background, at Heathrow in 1969 -
An aerial view of Heathrow in 1970 -
Passengers boarding the first BOAC Jumbo Jet 747 used for a commercial flight, from London Heathrow to New York, in 1971 -
Passengers going through the departure lounge at Heathrow in 1973 -
Concorde takes off from Heathrow on her first commercial flight for British Airways in 1976 -
Men at work finalising the Heathrow Central underground station before its opening in 1977 -
Queen Elizabeth II passing though the Tube gates at Heathrow Central station on its opening in 1977 -
An aerial view of Heathrow in 1978 -
Passengers waiting near a departures board in 1979 -
Holidaymakers waiting in the departure lounge at Terminal 3 of Heathrow in 1981 -
British Airways employees protesting at Heathrow in 1984 -
Passengers and staff observe a silence in Heathrow's Terminal One to mark the beginning of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997 -
Rower Steve Redgrave at Heathrow with daughters Sophie and Natalie and son Zak after returning from the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with his gold medal -
Spectators watch the last Concorde land at Heathrow in 2003 -
Fans surround the coach carrying the England rugby team at Heathrow, as they arrived from Sydney after winning the World Cup in 2003 -
Heathrow's Terminal 2 in 2004 -
Passengers queue to check in at Terminal 1 of Heathrow Airport during the Christmas 2006 and New Year period -
Passengers wait at Terminal 1 on August 10, 2006, after airport security was raised to critical when a terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US was disrupted by police -
Planes queueing to take off at Heathrow in 2007 -
The new Terminal 5 at Heathrow in 2008 -
Aircraft at Heathrow Airport in front of the London skyline in 2016 -
Members of Team GB arrive from Rio de Janeiro at Heathrow, after returning from the 2016 Olympics, which saw Great Britain's strongest performance at the Games in over a century -
A composite photo shows planes taking off from Heathrow in November 2016. Forty-two planes were captured between 10.17am and 11.17am and a montage was created from those single images -
Items are arranged during an auction preview at Heathrow in 2018. The contents of Terminal 1, which closed in 2015, were being sold -
An airline passenger wearing a face mask pushes her bags through Heathrow's Terminal 5 during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 -
British Airways employees welcome Olympians returning from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 -
Travellers wait in a long queue to pass through the security check in 2022
Willie Walsh, the head of International Air Transport Association, said the management of Heathrow was "a bunch of idiots" for failing to foresee the recovery post-pandemic and the opening up of global business and tourism. "All you had to do was count up the tickets," he said.
Today, Lord Deighton maintained the fault lay with airlines' failure to recruit and defended the airport's chief executive John Holland-Kaye, who has come under fire for his handling of the situation. He denied the problem was down to a lack of planning or investment by the airport.
Writing in The Telegraph, Lord Deighton, a former Treasury official, said: “Ground handling is a highly competitive, labour intensive, low margin business, characterised by short term contracts. Airlines have driven down costs over the years, and this was one of the first costs they slashed during the pandemic.
Passengers run the gauntlet at Heathrow
“For months ground handling companies have been trying to recruit and train skilled workers, but if their airline customers aren’t willing to pay market rates, then they aren’t able to fill the posts.”
He said bosses at British Airways, which Mr Walsh formerly ran, had overseen a "decade of slashing".
He said: “For months we have been asking airlines to keep their ground handling resource in balance with demand. In the last few weeks, we have seen a shocking increase in planes departing without bags and passengers having their flights cancelled after they were already onboard."
Passenger caps have been introduced at many airports, including Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Gatwick.
Farnborough International Airshow - in pictures
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Visitors watch a RAF F-35 aircraft at the Farnborough International Airshow in Hampshire, southern England. Reuters -
An Airbus SE A350 aircraft lands after an aerial display. Bloomberg -
An Embraer C-390 Millennium military transport aircraft, used by Brazil's Airforce, on display. AFP -
A detailed view of a Pratt & Whitney PW123 engine. Reuters -
The RAF's Red Arrows aerobatics team perform. AP -
Visitors shelter from the sun as they look around the show. AP -
An Embraer E190-E2 aircraft. AFP -
Visitors look at a model of the Wisk Aero autonomous aircraft. AP -
A member of staff shelters from the sun. AP -
Attendees walk past a poster of a Boom Supersonic concept Overture aircraft. AFP -
A US Air Force F-35A fighter jet on display. Bloomberg -
A model of proposed jet fighter aircraft Tempest, a joint programme by a consortium known as 'Team Tempest', which includes Britain's Ministry of Defence, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Leonardo SPA, MBDA and Saab. AFP -
Visitors watch the Embraer E2 Profit Hunter plane taking off. AFP -
An Aksungur drone, manufactured by Turkish Aerospace Industries, on display. Bloomberg -
An Airbus A350 plane flying over the crowds at Farnborough. AFP -
Soldiers pose beside a Leonardo helicopter. AP -
An aviation enthusiast shelters from the sun at the show. Temperatures were forecast to reach 40°C in parts of England. Bloomberg -
A model of a Pratt & Whitney GTF engine. This is the first Farnborough in four years, due to the pandemic. Bloomberg -
A Boeing 737-9 puts on a display at Farnborough. Bloomberg -
Visitors examine water barrels in a Boeing 777X, in an experiment on weight distribution. AFP -
An aviation fan uses a fan to keep cool amid soaring temperatures. Bloomberg -
A worker keeps a GulfStream Aerospace Corp G650 business jet gleaming. Bloomberg -
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson tours Farnborough, a vital marketplace for the country's aviation industry. AP -
Visitors board a Boeing 777X. Deals worth £161 billion ($192bn) were agreed the last time Farnborough was held, organisers said. AFP -
Boris Johnson views the display by SaxaVord, the UK Spaceport. PA -
More than 80,000 visitors from 96 countries are expected to attend this week's five-day event. Bloomberg
