Great Britain, Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada and France. At several of the major airports in countries around Europe, and other parts of the world, the queues in recent days have continued to grow further and further to the understaffed security checks.
Reports testify to queues of hundreds of meters when the number of holidaymakers has increased again after two years of pandemic rules – at the same time as there is a lack of airport staff.
– Without a doubt, what we are seeing at the moment is a very strong demand all over the world. It is stronger than we could predict, Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general, told Reuters.
Stopped selling tickets
In Dublin, thousands of passengers missed their flights on Sunday due to hour-long queues. And at Schiphol in Amsterdam, travelers have had to wait out on the street to be able to enter the halls, which has resulted in KLM last week stopping selling tickets for departures from the Dutch airport.
At the same time, the British government has warned of an “exceptionally high number” of travelers when the major travel weekends in the country now begin. There, travel companies such as TUI and EasyJet have canceled a number of flights. The latter company has also removed aircraft seats in order to reduce cabin crew.
– We believe that this is necessary for stability and better service, TUI has said in a statement.
Continued major disruptions
On Wednesday, the Paris airport authority, which controls Charles de Gaulle and Orly airport, issued a warning about continued major disruptions, which will increase the already high pressure on holidaymakers in Europe with delays and canceled departures, reports Reuters. In addition, there have been software problems that affect passport controls in the country, which is expected to create even more queues.
The major international airlines agree that the problems stem from the difficulty of recruiting the airport staff required when the demand for travel has now risen sharply after the pandemic. At the same time, the safety tests of new employees take more time than usual.
– The problem is that you can not start a training before you have passed a security test. And when it takes three months, not many stay, they move on to other jobs, says Willie Walsh.
“A challenge”
He believes that in the United States, the imminent problem is the lack of pilots. At the same time, the situation at many other airports is said to be much calmer.
In Sweden, Landvetter has not experienced the same pressure as Arlanda. And at Gatwick there are said to have been queues but still to have flowed on as usual, according to a statement.
– There are problems at some airports, but this does not apply all over the world. I think it reflects the very significant increase in activity we have seen. At the same time, it has been a challenge for some airlines and airports to scale up again, says Willie Walsh.