Heathrow CEO: Flight chaos could last 18 months
A summer of discontent for travellers could stretch into next year, Heathrow Airport boss John Holland-Kaye says .
Large-scale cancellations and delays could last for another 18 months.
“I think it will take 12 to 18 months for the aviation sector to fully recover capacity, so we will have to really carefully manage supply and demand,” Holland-Kay said at the Financial Times’ Global Boardroom conference.
He urged the government to streamline rules further for security background checks to speed up the hiring of new staff.
Julia Lo Bue-Said, CEO of the Advantage Travel Partnership, said agents and call handlers are receiving ‘a significant number’ of calls from worried customers about
“About 30% of all calls are from customers that are reading the headlines, have bookings for July and August and are worried.’
It is ‘hideous and disappointing’ for customers who find their flights are being cancelled.
Cancellations continued on Tuesday with easyJet and Wizz Air scrapping flights.
One aviation source told the New York Times that airlines were ’resigning themselves’ to a summer of chaos.
Ray Monty
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