The lack of workers suffered by the tourism sector in the summer of recovery also hits airlines and airports across Europe. The shortage has reached such proportions that some of the main companies and hubs are cutting flights because they do not have enough employees and cannot serve all the passengers.
The last to announce a reduction in supply has been the British EasyJet. Less than a month ago, it assured that this quarter it would operate 90% of the capacity of 2019 and in the following quarter, it would almost equal pre-pandemic flights, with a 97% recovery. And it would, he said, because demand to fly has suddenly returned despite rising ticket prices. The tables have turned and after weeks of chaos and cancellations at some of the most important airports – it has had to suspend 24 flights a day at its Gatwick base between May 28 and June 6 – the airline has given a Step back. It will fly at 87% of pre-covid capacity this quarter and at 90% in the next period. It's not the only one. Lufthansa and its subsidiary Eurowings have also canceled 1,000 flights scheduled for July (5% of their planned offer) due to lack of staff and British Airways (IAG) has been forced to reduce the offer of seats by 10% until October before the problems for the expansion of templates, according to the group, due to the British labor regulation.
“Although in recent weeks the measures we have taken to increase recovery capacity have allowed us to continue operating up to 1,700 flights and transporting up to 250,000 passengers a day, the difficulty of the current operating environment has continued to impact our activity, a fact that has given give rise to cancellations”, admitted yesterday the CEO of EasyJet, Johan Lundgren.
Added to this are the limitations that have just been activated by Gatwick (London) and Schiphol (Amsterdam). The British airport, where EasyJet is the largest airline, has reduced the daily cap on flights because they do not have the necessary workforce. Instead of operating around 900 daily flights – the usual in high season – it will set a limit of 825 flights in July and 850 in August.
The combination of staff shortages in ground handling, at airports and at passport controls for passengers from outside the Schengen area – this has happened in Spain – has caused this situation that was unthinkable just a few months ago. Just when the airline sector is coming out of its worst crisis, with billionaire losses, bailouts and public aid, they are not able to work at full capacity and have to reduce their activity despite having customers willing to travel. "We are in a very tight labor market for the entire ecosystem, including in terms of crew, which has further reduced the expected recovery capacity," they stressed yesterday from EsayJet.
The airline association IATA recognized on Monday the mess of flights and the shortage of personnel. "In some cases, employment delays can act as a constraint on the airline's ability to meet passenger demand," he said in his latest analysis. His thesis is, however, reassuring in the medium term. According to IATA, the darkest moments of the pandemic have produced such a shock in the sector that it will now need time to adjust and recover the workers who have found employment. In the air world, it takes even longer than in other activities, because workers have to pass specific training, according to the safety regulations of each country. And although this period supposes a "challenge for the industry this 2022", it will be solved, they consider.
However, it remains to overcome a summer that is expected to be less complicated. And that begins with labor conflict looming around the corner. As if the problems of finding personnel were not enough, several airlines are also facing mobilizations of the employees they have. In Spain, the first three days of strike called at the Ryanair airline by the USO and SITCPLA unions – with representation among cabin crew – for June 24, 25 and 26, will coincide with new calls for protests in Belgium, Portugal , France and Italy. In total, 2,700 Ryanair crew members are called to strike in the five countries where the strike is called. The Belgian unions ACV PULS and CNE, and the Portuguese SNPVAC, have joined USO and SITCPLA and have called Ryanair crew members to strike in those countries on June 24, 25 and 26. In France, the SNPNC union will mobilize on June 25 and 26, while, from Italy, UILTrasporti and FILT-CGIL have done so on June 25. The same unions are also preparing actions in the EasyJet airline for this summer in Spain. Traveling, then, will be more expensive and maybe a little heavier this summer.
