Jet2 warns UK airports are ‘woefully ill-prepared’ for holiday season

The head of airline and tour operator Jet2 has criticised UK airports for being “woefully ill-prepared and poorly resourced” for the holiday season, blaming them for the “inexcusable” travel chaos that has engulfed the sector in recent months. Philip Meeson, Jet2’s executive chair, said airport operators’ “often atrocious customer service”, combined with long queues at security and a lack of baggage handling staff, had contributed to “a very much poorer experience at the start and finish of our customers’ holidays than they were entitled to expect”. He added: “This difficult return to normal operations has occurred simply because of the lack of planning, preparedness and unwillingness to invest by many airports and associated suppliers.” Jet2, which operates out of 10 airports across the UK, stressed that it had invested “well ahead” of summer to ensure it had “adequate resources to be able to operate efficiently”. The air travel industry has been blighted by a wave of delays and flight cancellations in recent months, due in large part to staffing shortages among ground handlers and air traffic controllers. Strike action among some check-in staff and workers who refuel planes is expected to exacerbate the problem. Jet2 said on Thursday that revenues in the year to March 31 were GBP1.23b, more than three-fold higher than the year before when the airline’s fleet was largely grounded because of travel restrictions imposed to limit the spread of Covid-19. The Aim-listed group reported an operating loss of GBP324m, down from GBP336m the previous year. A total of 4.85m passengers flew with Jet2, compared with 1.32m the year before.<br/>