Airports situation could get worse before it gets better

Prospect union represents thousands of staff across air traffic control, in airports, and in aviation engineering among other aviation roles. It has responded to disruption being faced at a number of airports.

Garry Graham, Deputy General Secretary of Prospect union said:

“Unions warned the government and aviation employers repeatedly that slashing staff through the crisis would lead to problems with the ramp up post-pandemic.

“The government point to the furlough scheme but ignore that it ended well before the majority of international restrictions on travel came to an end.

“Now we see staff shortages across the industry, with huge reliance on overtime to get by day-to-day.

“In many areas, like air traffic control, overtime is only a temporary sticking plaster. So, things could get worse this summer before they get better.”