'The system is rusty': Executives defend industry as airlines cancel scores of flights

Air travel is roaring back, but not without some significant hiccups. Particularly in North America and Europe, travelers have described chaos at airports, with scores of flights canceled or delayed, luggage lost and wait times to board planes exceeding four hours. That's partly the result of labor shortages from the pandemic, as layoffs have put pressure on airports and airlines facing a surge of summer passengers eager to travel. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, speaking to CNBC's Dan Murphy about the sector's recovery, said that after nearly two years of dramatically reduced activity, it's going to take some time to get the system up and running smoothly again. "The entire industry everywhere is experiencing this, and we're seeing some of it in Australia," Joyce said at the IATA 78th Annual General Meeting in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday. It's "not as bad as you're seeing in Europe or in the North American market," the CEO said. "We saw during Easter long queues at airports; nothing like you've seen in London, Manchester and Dublin and other places around Europe." "And I think it does take a while. The system is rusty, everything was closed down for two years," he added. "It is going to take awhile to get that system humming again. It's a huge complicated business, there's a lot of moving parts involved in it." IATA Director General Willie Walsh, in a separate interview from Doha, said airport chaos and delays are "isolated" and not every airport is experiencing problems. Nevertheless, he added that the airline industry isn't yet "out of the woods" when it comes to recovery.<br/>