Passengers warned of further air travel disruption during summer season
Will PaynePassengers have been warned of further disruption at airports this summer as airlines ramp up capacity ahead of a bumper peak season.
The message came after Iata reported high levels of confidence among travellers for the peak Northern summer holiday season, corresponding with first quarter 2023 forward bookings data for May-September, which is tracking at 35% above 2022 levels.
A survey covering 4,700 travellers in 11 countries found 79% said they were planning a trip in the June-August 2023 period and while 85% said peak travel season disruptions should "not be a surprise", 80% said they expected smooth travel with post-pandemic issues to have been resolved.
"Expectations are high for this year’s peak Northern summer travel season," said Nick Careen, Iata’s senior vice-president for operations, safety and security.
"For many this will be their first post-pandemic travel experience. While some disruptions can be expected, there is a clear expectation that the ramping-up issues faced at some key hub airports in 2022 will have been resolved."
In a bid to meet strong demand, Careen added, airlines are planning schedules based on the capacity which airports, border control, ground handlers and air navigation service providers have declared. "Over the next months, all industry players need to deliver," he said.
Collaboration, sufficient staffing and accurate information sharing are all "essential" to minimise operational disruptions and their impact on passengers.
"Success rests on readiness across all players in the supply chain," Careen added. "If each player delivers on what has been declared, there should be no last-minute requirements to reduce the scale of the schedules that travellers have booked on."
Careen said labour unrest, particularly in France, is "cause for concern" and the industry "needs to keep a very careful eye" on Europe, where strike actions have caused significant disruptions earlier this year.
As a result, European airlines have called on the European Commission to "step up to stop escalating industrial action" from "derailing" summer travel for millions of passengers.
Airlines for Europe (A4E) has urged the commission to implement mandatory arbitration before ATC unions can threaten strike action, a 21-day advance notification of strike action and provide a 72-hour advance individual notification of participation in industrial action.
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