UK Airports Hoping to Pass this Weekend without a Glitch
As the first of the summer travel peak in England and Wales begins, all the travel companies in the UK that deal with air travel, like airports, airlines and travel agencies, are hoping this weekend would pass by without a glitch for passengers.
This hope became stronger thanks to the suspension of a three-day strike by aircraft-refuelling workers at Heathrow, which was planned to start from 5 am on July 21 till July 24. This was possible thanks to the talks at the conciliation service, ACAS on Wednesday, July 20.
A “severe disruption” was foreseen as workers of Aviation Fuel Services (AFS) who were responsible for refuelling half of non-British Airways traffic at Heathrow were refused a 10% pay increase. However, this strike was called off after the workforce agreed to the counter-offer made by the AFS.
After passenger numbers were capped last week, Heathrow was hoping the operations would be conducted more efficiently this weekend.
The ground handlers employed by Heathrow in 2019 have decreased in numbers by 30%, as acknowledged by the airport. But they were required to handle 85% of the air traffic
A source in aviation had warned: “There will be problems. Heathrow still has issues. The risk is this weekend becomes a shit show, then there will be more pressure on the airlines. We’ve probably seen all the advance cancellations. But we’ll see more media coverage over the coming weeks. There is a narrative of disruption, with the media finding stuff that fits it.”
They also added: “There has been a different problem every holiday. The government wants to wave a big stick at the industry, but it is doing nothing.”
The Department for Transport and CAA urged Heathrow in a letter last week to “develop a credible and resilient capacity recovery plan for the next six months”.
A second source made a statement, “Rebuilding the industry from 20% to 80% capacity was never going to be easy without clear visibility of when travel would restart. We will still see some issues.”
Passengers are continually requested to not arrive at terminals too early before departure and be prepared for check-in and security at the airport.
Fall-outs caused by previous disruptions keep resurfacing.
After some helpline staff were abused by passengers trying to locate lost baggage, Edinburgh airport suspended the service last weekend.
A source has informed: “Ground-handler Swissport has been working through a backlog of luggage in a warehouse near the airport after a significant number of bags were not loaded onto flights. It’s a legacy of weeks ago.”