VIENNA – There is no easy fix for Europe’s travel nightmares this summer, pilots have warned. They also called on the European aviation safety regulator to take action to help keep passengers safe amid growing pressure on staff.
“As much as I would like to say how we can solve and change it, the summer chaos is here, and it is not going to go away. We are not going to solve it this year,” Captain Tanja Harter, Technical Affairs Director at the European Cockpit Association (ECA), commented during an online media briefing on July 12, 2022.
While travel demand has bounced back after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the aviation industry has been unable to recruit back enough staff fast enough, whether on the ground or in the air.
Across Europe, airports have seen long lines for security, a lack of ground staff has led to delays and baggage being left behind. Airlines have been canceling flights and airports are putting caps on the numbers of passengers they can handle, with London’s Heathrow asking airlines to stop selling tickets.
Fatigue is a key issue for crews, whose rosters are being planned to maximum limits with no buffers, Harter said. The issue of fatigue was raised recently when the head of low-cost carrier Wizz Air said crews needed to carry on working even if they were fatigued.
