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12th Apr 2022

Brit holidaymakers warned of ‘summer of chaos’ with ‘six month delays to hire new staff’

Kieran Galpin

Don’t pack that speedo just yet

If you’re excited to run away somewhere hot this year, then you might want to know that holidaymakers have been warned of a “summer of chaos” surrounding the country’s airports.

Those due to escape on a holiday during the Easter break have been met with fiercely long queues, some totalling more than five hours, as well as cancelled and rescheduled flights.

However it will all be fine before summer, right? Well, according to industry insiders, airports are experiencing six-month delays in hiring new staff.

You might want to cancel that bulk order of suncream.

Via UnSplash

According to reports from The Times, insiders explained that hiring new staff usually takes around 15 weeks before slamming the government for failing to provide the extra resources needed to meet demand.

“The process is cripplingly slow,” one source claimed, as reported in The Sun. “Aviation was one of the hardest-hit sectors during the pandemic, suffered from a lack of targeted support, and is now facing a summer disrupted by the government being slow in vetting staff.”

“The one thing the British public don’t want us taking a risk on is who has security clearance to work on airlines,” a government spokesperson said in response. “They and the travel companies treated their staff so badly through the pandemic it’s no surprise they don’t want to come back.”

Via UnSplash

On Monday, at least 64 flights were cancelled by British Airways, with domestic flights from London, Aberdeen, Manchester and Newcastle all being affected. International flight issues included flights to and from Berlin, Dublin, Geneva, Paris and Stockholm, according to the Independent.

More than 80 collective flights were cancelled today, April 12, by Easyjet and British Airways alone.

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