Written statement to Parliament by Transport Minister
on aviation resilience
planning
Over the half-term Jubilee weekend, we saw disruption at UK
airports with some passengers facing long queues and
cancellations largely due to staff shortages at airports,
airlines and ground handlers. These experiences, for too many
consumers recently, have been unacceptable.
The Secretary of State for Transport and I have made it clear to
the sector that they need to operate services that are offered
for sale properly and according to schedule, or provide swift,
appropriate compensation.
The aviation industry is privately owned, operated and run. It
is, therefore, responsible for making sure that it has enough
staff to meet demand and to operate the flights offered for sale.
It is important that the sector is a competitive, attractive
market for workers. The government has called upon the sector’s
leadership to offer better packages and build a resilient
workforce to meet demand.
Since earlier this year, government has worked across a number of
different areas to help the industry alleviate the issues they
have been facing. We are clear that consumers should not lose
out.
The government is taking steps to boost consumer rights,
including recently consulting on using our
Brexit freedoms to enhance consumer protections. We have
committed to publishing an aviation passenger charter to ensure
consumers can access information about their rights all in one
place.
We have sought ways to ease the burden of background checks
carried out by industry. A statutory instrument was laid on 29
April 2022 to provide greater flexibility, enabling ministers to
take the decision to allow certain training to be undertaken
while background checks were completed.
Ministers have also agreed that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
employment history letters can be used as a suitable form of
reference check with safeguards in place. These temporary
alleviations have helped to speed up recruitment times.
In partnership with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the
government has written to the industry setting out 5 specific
expectations we have for the aviation sector this summer:
- Summer schedules must be reviewed to make sure they are
deliverable.
- Everyone from ground handlers to air traffic control must
collaborate on resilience planning.
- Passengers must be promptly informed of their consumer rights
when things go wrong and – if necessary – compensated in good
time.
- Disabled and less mobile passengers must be given assistance
they require.
- Safety and security must never be compromised.
I am chairing a Strategic Risk Group with chief executive
officers of the aviation sector, which will meet on a weekly
basis going into the summer.
This group will identify possible interventions to further
improve the resilience of the sector and will be used to hold the
sector to account for delivering its schedules.
Department for Transport ministers and senior officials will
continue to monitor the situation closely to make sure consumers
do not lose out from any further disruption.
