Travel industry should have been prepared for increased demand, says government minister

‘We have been, for many months, urging them to make sure they’ve got enough staff,’ says Lord Parkinson

Bristol airport queues (Tom Wren SWNS)

A government minister has said the travel industry should have been prepared for the ramping up of demand for holidays, amid the chaos seen at UK airports this week.

Lord Parkinson, the arts minister, said the Department for Transport had been working with the industry in the run-up to the Platinum Jubilee.

“We have been on a long pathway back to recovery so that people can enjoy this moment and [companies] should be making sure that people are able to get away on holiday and enjoy it fully,” he told Sky News.

“We have been, for many months, urging them to make sure they've got enough staff.”

He added: “We have been working with people across the sector to make sure that they are preparing for the reopening of the economy and of travel, after the pandemic abated.”

Following claims from some that the government was to blame for airport and airline staff shortages following the pandemic, Lord Parkinson said there were “lots of opinionated people in the aviation industry”

Among them was senior Labour MP, Ben Bradshaw – a member of the Transport Select Committee – who said the government’s “chaotic stop/start approach to travel during Covid” had exacerbated the problems.

He told The Independent: “We had the most restrictive travel regime for most of last year, but the government opened up travel all in one go with no warning which meant the industry had no time to prepare.

“Coupled to that, the public are now desperate to make the trips they cancelled or postponed during Covid.

“The government should have foreseen and planned for this.”

A government spokesperson said in response: “The aviation industry is responsible for making sure they have enough staff to meet demand, and we have been clear that they must step up recruitment to make sure disruption is kept to a minimum.”

Thousands of travellers’ plans have been disrupted so far this week, with mass flight cancellations from easyJet, multiple delays on Tui flights and huge queues reported at airports including Dublin, Manchester and Amsterdam Schiphol.