Wednesday 15 June 2022 04:46 PM Ex-British Airways boss Willie Walsh lays into Grant Shapps for his handling of ... trends now
The former boss of British Airways has branded Transport Secretary Grant Shapps an 'idiot' and a 'fool' for his handling of the half term holiday crisis.
Willie Walsh, who is now the chief executive of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), lashed out after holiday flights caused misery for thousands of families jetting off for half term sun.
He was reacting to remarks by Mr Shapps, who said the airline industry had not done enough to prevent the chaos.
The transport minister also accused firms of overselling flights and said the Government had helped the airlines with £8billion support package during the pandemic.
Asked whether airlines should have been better prepared Mr Walsh, who was in charge of BA when they controversially announced plans to 'fire and fire' thousands of staff height of Covid, said at the Paris Air Forum earlier this month: 'In the UK, It is not helped that you have an idiot as a transport minister, who doesn't know what he is talking about.
Willie Walsh (pictured), who is now the chief executive of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), lashed out after holiday flights caused misery for thousands of families jetting off for half term sun
He was reacting to remarks by Mr Shapps (pictured), who said the airline industry had not done enough to prevent the chaos. The transport minister also accused firms of overselling flights and said the Government had helped the airlines with £8billion support package during the pandemic
'If you look at the UK, it stopped financial support in furlough scheme at the end of September last year.
'The belief was everything was fine and we are going in the right direction. Passenger numbers in the fourth quarter of last year when there was no government support for airlines - zero - passenger numbers were down 55% versus 2019.
'Now the idea that an airline would start ramping up when their traffic levels are at minus 55%, they are still burning through cash and you have a Government that is changing their mind by the day.
'In other words if you look at what happened in November, the UK Government took all of the countries off their famous red list and put 13 of them back on in late November with Omicron.
'They were removing restrictions, introducing restrictions. The idea that airlines would suddenly say - oh we are out of this, let's start recruiting again when you had no idea what the Government was going to do is a nonsense.
'You have politicians saying airlines should have ramped up sooner - no they shouldn't. Airlines would have gone out of business had they done what these idiot politicians were saying they should have done.
'Those of us who understand what is going on need to call out these politicians and remind them of what they did, the damage that they did and point out the fools that they are.'
Grant Shapps said last week: 'We've been clear that industry leaders need to tackle the issues we saw at Easter head-on.
'Although some steps have been taken, we are still not seeing the progress we need to.'
Mr Walsh was the chief executive of BA's owner IAG at the time when the airline controversially announced plans to cut up to 12,000 jobs from its 42,000 staff as part of a controversial 'fire and rehire scheme'.
The airline announcement in summer 2020 at the height of Covid and amid heavy restrictions on world travel - becoming one of the first major firms to tout such a scheme.
It told its senior crew that, if rehired, their pay would be 80 per cent of the then basic pay rate.
The move was slammed by unions, including Unite, who pledged not to engage in formal talks with BA until it removed its threat to 'fire and rehire' its workforce.
Amid a backlash, the 'fire and rehire' plan was dropped by BA in September 2020, but the airline did push on with plans for 10,000 job cuts instead.
Walsh officially retired from IAG in September 2020, and was succeeded by Luis Gallego.
It comes as industry experts today warned that airline staff laid off during the pandemic have taken up better paying jobs with less responsibility in other industries and are now reluctant to come back.
The industry is currently in the grips of a staffing crisis - sparking chaotic scenes of long queues and abandoned luggage at airports and resulting in hundreds of flights being cancelled.
Amid the continuing chaos, including long queues at Manchester Airport today, MPs were warned how travel firms were struggling to bring back staff following mass redundancies last year.
One employment expert, Danny Brooks, founder and CEO of Virtual Human Resources, said airline firms had been forced to axe thousands of workers in the gap between the end of the Government's furlough scheme and the end of all Covid travel restrictions.
Comparing the situation to 'like an alien spaceship removing staff from the supply chain', he said many former airline staff had now settled in new jobs including as heat-engineers or in Amazon warehouses.
His comments came as figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) today reveal how travel firms were now facing stiff competition in the labour markets, with job vacancies reaching a record high.
According to the figures, companies across Britain sought 1.3million new members of staff in the three months to May, a record high number of vacancies to fill.
Meanwhile figures show how employment levels have fallen in the air transport industry. ONS data shows there were some 81,000 people employed in March 2020, compared to just 70,000 in March this year - a fall of 14 per cent. At the lowest point last year just 66,000 people worked in air travel.
It comes as airlines were last night told to rip up their summer schedules to ensure the recent 'unacceptable scenes' at British airports do not drag on into summer.
The regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), and the Government urged carriers to review their timetables until the end of September - and even cancel flights that are not feasible - to ensure they are 'deliverable'. Any cancellations should be done at the earliest possible opportunity, according to officials.
The warning came as consumer group Which? said firms were 'blatantly flouting' passenger rights through practices such as taking bookings for flights which may not be able to run.
Tens of thousands of passengers have been affected by flight cancellations and long queues at airports in recent months, particularly during Easter and last month's half-term school holiday.
And today holidaymakers said they were facing 'chaos' once again at Manchester airport, with 'three hour' queues and hundreds of passengers being funnelled through 'just two' security desks.
Pictures and video show a huge line of people snaking around the airport terminal as the wait to go through airport security at the under-pressure airport.
Holidaymakers say they are facing 'chaos' once again at Manchester airport (pictured left and right today), with 'three hour' queues and hundreds of passengers being funnelled through 'just one' security desk. Some passengers say they arrived three hours early for their flights, only to have to be pulled from the queues and fast-tracked through to the gate to avoid missing their flights
Pictures and video at Manchester Airport (pictured today) show a huge line of people snaking around the airport terminal as the wait to go through airport security at the under-pressure airport
Others say hundreds of passengers were being funnelled through just two security desks. Another passenger described the situation as a 'fiasco'. It comes after weeks of disruption at the airport, and others such as Birmingham and Bristol, and also on occasion Heathrow and Gatwick. Pictured left and right: Queues at Manchester Airport today
According to the figures, companies across Britain sought 1.3million new members of staff in the three months to May, a record high number of vacancies to fill. Pictured: A graphic from ONS data showing the number of active vacancies across all industries (red), compared to those in the Transport and Storage industry (blue)
One employment expert, Danny Brooks (pictured), founder and CEO of Virtual Human Resources, said airline firms had been forced to axe thousands of workers in the gap between the end of the Government's furlough scheme and the end of all Covid travel restrictions
Yesterday MPs were briefed on the travel staffing situation at a meeting of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee.
Danny Brooks, founder and CEO of Virtual Human Resources, told the BEIS committee that the chaos was mainly due to the a skills gap in the aviation jobs market.
Manchester Airport Group CEO, Charlie Cornish, was awarded a £500,000 pay rise in 2021 compared to 2020
Bosses at Manchester airport have launched a mass recruitment drive to fill 500 vacancies after scenes of airport chaos over half-term, while its CEO has been awarded a £2.5million salary.
Despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic leading to widespread staff redundancies, pay cuts and absences, the CEO of the Manchester Airport Group Charlie Cornish was allocated a £2.5million salary last year - an increase of £500,000 on 2020.
It is understood however that part of his remuneration is dependent on business performance over the next four years, meaning that his full bonus may never actually be paid out.
Families last week were faced with hours of queues, hundreds of flight cancellations and an absence of staff at airports across the UK - with Manchester Airport being one of the worst affected.
Things got so bad on the ground in Manchester that one TUI pilot actually helped load bags onto their plane when there were no ground staff available.
The flight had already been pushed back from May 29 to May 30, and after passengers were delayed once again they praised the pilot for taking matters into their own hands.
The group which owns Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports made 900 redundancies during the pandemic, as well as making all staff take a 10% pay cut, which is understood to have included Mr Cornish, despite his overall rise in remuneration due to projected bonus earnings.
Additionally a further 1,500 jobs were cut across the three airports by external agency staff, which has exacerbated the problems faced by customers so far this year.
Travel and consumer champion Martyn James told the Sun: 'The only thing that has been taking off lately with this company seems to be the chief executive's perks.
'For the thousands of people queuing round the block it is an insult.'
The CEO's troubles look far from over as the summer is set to see more delays - as Manchester airport tries to urgently hire 500 staff to plug the gaps.
Most of the roles are being advertised as immediate starts, with anyone who signs up being instantly given £250 in cash if they refer a friend.
Although the airport announced in April it had recruited around 200 new staff, with a further 250 going through security screening, the problems caused by the huge spike in demand post-coronavirus shows no sign of letting up.
But it is believed this still leaves the group short by hundreds of workers.
During the half-term week thousands of passengers were left stranded at UK airports or abroad as the aviation
