Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has jumped into the airport chaos debate, blaming airlines for ‘seriously overselling flights and holidays.’
Disruption is set to continue through the bank holiday weekend and possibly throughout the summer.
It is ‘very distressing’ to see ‘holidays plans left in disarray’
“Despite government warnings, operators seriously oversold relative to their capacity to deliver,” Shapps said.
”This must not happen again and all efforts should be directed at there being no repeat of this over the summer.”
Shapps plans to discuss the issue with airports, airlines and ground handlers to ‘find out what’s gone wrong.’
The industry is struggling to recruit staff quickly enough after mass lay-offs during the pandemic.
TUI said it will be cancelling several flights each day from Manchester airport through the end of June due to chronic staff shortages at the airport.
