Latest: Chaotic scenes at Heathrow ahead of nightmare weekend
More than 100 flights at British airports were cancelled on Wednesday as the chaos blighting the Easter holiday season continued.
British Airways cancelled 78 flights to or from London Heathrow Airport on Wednesday, four of them a result of staff absences.
EasyJet, which is also grappling with an unusually high level of staff sickness because of Covid-19, cut at least 30 flights from its schedule from London’s Gatwick Airport on Wednesday.
Staff shortages caused by Covid and a failure to rehire people made redundant earlier in the pandemic continue to blight the travel industry. In Britain, this problem has been worsened by end of the school terms, with families flying abroad over the Easter holidays.
To reduce the impact on passengers, airlines say, most cancellations are made at least a day in advance and on routes with several daily flights.
Manchester Airport's boss stepped down on Tuesday after days of criticism over long queues at check-in desks, security, baggage halls and to enter terminal buildings.
Last week, British Airways cancelled many of its flights. It said it had decided to reduce its schedule until the end of May to boost reliability, and that some routes had been suspended for several months because of Covid restrictions at some destinations.
Passengers at Heathrow have for weeks faced longer than normal queueing times as a result of staff shortages, problems with e-gates for passport scanning and flight cancellations.
Many airlines, which laid off vast numbers of staff at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, are racing to recruit, train and get security clearances for new employees in time for the busy summer season.
The situation could worsen this weekend as travellers return from trips taken during the first week of the school holiday.
‘No such flight exists’
On Wednesday, BA passengers expressed their frustration over cancellations on Twitter.
Adam Galbraith Cobb said the late disembarkation of his flight, which had arrived 30 minutes ahead of schedule “really sums up BA’s problems at the moment”.
A woman called Katalina said her partner had been given the wrong information about a BA flight after his journey was delayed by more than a day.
“My boyfriend got told by British Airways at Seattle airport that there’d be a flight from Heathrow to Malaga for him at 4pm GMT. No such flight exists,” she wrote on Twitter. “Why would you lie to a worried passenger? This is after a 27h delay to his journey.”
At Manchester Airport, piles of suitcases were left in terminals after travellers abandoned the wait to reclaim their baggage and opted instead to go home.
The airport is short-staffed after laying off workers during the pandemic. Birmingham Airport has also been affected by the industry-wide problems.
'Further challenges ahead for Manchester Airport'
The managing director at Manchester, in north-west England, quit on Tuesday evening after the chaos prompted the city’s mayor, Andy Burnham, to hold crisis talks with police and firefighters in case they would have to step in.
Karen Smart resigned and will return south for family reasons and to “pursue fresh career opportunities”, her bosses said.
Last weekend, the airport apologised to passengers after admitting it had “fallen short of the standards they expected”.
Ms Smart’s resignation was announced hours after Mr Burnham said police and firefighters could be called in to bring order to the manic scenes at the airport, which he called “concerning”.
“I have been in touch with colleagues at Greater Manchester Police at the weekend to see what we can do to support the airport,” Mr Burnham said.
“It's a difficult moment for airports around the world having laid low for the pandemic. They've had to scale up very quickly.
“But at the same time, we don't want to see the scenes that we saw at the weekend and we obviously need to work with them to work through those issues and make sure we're managing those things and giving the right information to the public and being clear about the plan to get things to an acceptable level.”
Ms Smart took on the managing director role at the start of the pandemic and has worked for Manchester Airports Group for eight years, including a stint in charge of East Midlands Airport.
“Over the last two years, Karen has guided Manchester Airport through the most challenging period of its 84-year history, having made a major contribution to Mag throughout her time with the business,” Mag chief executive Charlie Cornish said.
“I am sorry to lose Karen after her years of valuable service, but also understand her desire to return to the South for family reasons and indeed to explore new career opportunities.
“While there are sure to be further challenges ahead, I am confident we will soon start to see the benefits of the recovery plans Karen has helped put in place.”
Ian Costigan moves from his post as group transformation director to become interim managing director.
On Tuesday, John O’Neill, North West regional industrial officer for Unite, a trade union, said its officials were meeting airport management to discuss pay.
He said that after mass redundancies caused by the pandemic, some workers had found other jobs and may not be willing to return to work at the airport doing unsocial hours for similar rates of pay.
Mag, which also runs Stansted and East Midlands airports, is partly owned by the 10 local authorities of Greater Manchester, with the biggest stake held by Manchester City Council.
The Mag airport site is offering jobs for drivers with a starting salary of £13,000 ($17,019) a year and security “ambassador” jobs paying £10.53 an hour. The role, advertised as suited to students, includes night-time, weekend and public holiday shifts alongside 3am starts.
Last year’s annual report for Manchester Airport showed the top-earning director was paid £2.5 million in 2021, a £500,000 increase on the previous year, and that pay for directors as a whole increased from £5.9 million to £7.3 million in 2021.
Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “Bargain-basement wages and insecure jobs must be consigned to the past if the sector wants to get back on track.
“It is pretty simple – if you want to thrive, treat your workers with respect and don’t attack their jobs, pay and conditions.”
Heathrow through the years
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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
