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As the pandemic entered its third summer, airline bookings boomed as consumers planned long-awaited trips after years of hiatus — but the industry wasn’t ready.
Air travel on both sides of the Atlantic has been in turmoil this summer. From early May to mid-August, a quarter of flights to and from the US, the UK and Europe were disrupted – delayed or canceled – as airlines struggled to ramp up operations to meet rising demand, with staff shortages ranging from pilots to cabin crew, ground staff Staff and air traffic controllers.
After an unprecedented cap on passenger numbers at busy airports and airlines canceling their winter schedules, the situation is finally starting to improve in the UK and Europe. An industry-focused employment drive has brought in more workers.
In the first half of August, 29 per cent of flights to, from or to the UK were delayed or cancelled, down from 35 per cent in June and July, according to data from the Financial Times flight tracker Flyware.
A quarter of 480,000 flights to, out of or into Europe were disrupted in the first 17 days of August, down 29% from July.
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Warwick Brady, chief executive of Swissport, one of the world’s largest ground handling companies, said: “Obviously we have different challenges in different markets, but overall the UK is far worse.”
Brady pointed to problems including travel restrictions and hiring staff following Brexit.
Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport, hit unprecedented passenger numbers this week, blaming a staff shortage on ground-handling companies hired by airlines to ensure operations can survive until the end of October.
A blame game has been played between US airlines and the federal government.
Most US carriers have reduced their schedules for the rest of the year. Delta cut 100 daily flights over a five-week period in July and early August, while United Airlines decided to operate fewer flights until its aviation infrastructure was improved.
“The whole system is under stress,” said UN chief Scott Kirby. “There is a tight workforce everywhere. . . That’s why we’re pulling our capacity down and waiting to grow until the whole system grows.”
US airlines experienced significant disruptions in June, with nearly 26 percent of flights disrupted, a figure that declined slightly in July and the first half of August.
American Airlines was among the “big four” airlines with 5 percent of its flights canceled in June. Southwest Airlines has significant delays for May, June and July.
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In the US, disruptions are worse every month than in 2019, despite airlines flying fewer flights.
“We didn’t do as well as we could have,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian told FTA in June about the carrier’s struggle to meet demand, problems exacerbated by bad weather and air traffic control delays.
Delta disruptions are down — from 24 percent in June to 20 percent in the first half of August — but “Europe is different,” Bastian said.
“The governments were not there for them when the epidemic happened. In retrospect, and we are very lucky, the US government from [Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security] Act early and allow us to keep our staff in place. The airport staff were able to stay engaged.
US carriers have received about $54 billion in government aid aimed at keeping airline workers on the payroll. Because their domestic flight market is so large, they have also been less affected by travel restrictions.
Some European governments provided financial support to airlines, but there were still significant crackdowns on airlines, airports and ground controllers.
Disturbance rates in Europe remained below 2019, from 12 percent to 18 percent in March, until flight numbers began to increase in April this year. In July, prices rose to 30 percent.
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker told the FTA in July that disruptions at European airports had reached “epidemic” levels and the industry could take a “couple” of years to recover.
There may also be an additional problem with grinding.
“In the next six to 18 months, we face three risks that could grow,” Kirby said, citing “industry-wide operational challenges that limit system capacity, record oil prices and the possibility of a global recession.”
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