BA cuts schedule amid IT and staff shortage issues
Ian Taylor
British Airways suffered multiple problems ahead of the Easter holiday, with an IT failure last week disrupting operations and further flight cancellations this week due to staff shortages and Covid absences. The carrier has reduced its
schedule to the end of May in an effort to reduce the cancellations. However, a leading analyst
warned the problems would take time to fix and extend beyond BA to the wider aviation sector. BA suffered a ‘network
connectivity issue’ at Heathrow Terminal 5 on March 30 following a similar failure in February – the latest in a series of IT problems. Then it had to cancel 60 flights on
Monday and “a handful” on Tuesday in addition to cancellations made in line with a new schedule. The analyst told Travel Weekly:
“BA’s problem is it hasn’t enough people. Wages are going to have to go up. BA depends a lot on outsourced service providers and the wages aren’t competitive. They’re paying people pretty much the minimum wage. People are starting on £9.50 or £10 an hour and getting 30 hours’ work a week on split shifts. People don’t want
BA’s problem is it
hasn’t enough people. The wages aren’t competitive – they’re going to have to go up
to work awful hours and split shifts. “We’ve seen a real shift in
employment. Why would you want to stand on a cold ramp at six in the morning when you could be driving a Sainsbury’s delivery truck? “It can be overcome by paying
more and training people efficiently, but that has to go all the way through the system. Aviation has to be more efficient, but it hasn’t the people it
CAA reveals 50 businesses did not apply to renew Atol licences
The Civil Aviation Authority had renewed 594 Atol licences by its March 31 cut-off date, with a further 31 in the process of being renewed. The regulator confirmed 675 Atol licences expired on March 31, and 50 businesses (7%) did not
apply to renew. It said 88% had renewed so far. i Get Social, page 31
6 7 APRIL 2022
needs to function. Wages will have to go up. Charges will have to go up and it will be another source of inflation.” The analyst added: “BA’s IT
problems go back to when Willie Walsh was in charge. They have all these legacy systems and have just kept adding to them.” A BA spokesperson said: “Aviation
has been one of the industries worst hit by the pandemic and airlines and airports are experiencing the same issues rebuilding their operations while managing the continuing impact of Covid. “While the vast majority of our
flights continue to operate as planned, as a precaution we’ve slightly reduced our schedule between now and the end of May as we ramp back up.”
Abta to host Travel Convention in Marrakech on October 10-12
Abta’s 2022 Travel Convention will take place in Marrakech on October 10-12, marking a return to an overseas conference following the Covid pandemic. The event will feature two days of business sessions in addition to networking events and the chance to experience tourism developments in the city.
BA cancelled more than 60 flights on Monday and Tuesday
Designer Travel hopes training will double cruise sales
Designer Travel has unveiled a cruise education programme to boost its homeworkers’ knowledge about the sector and to double its cruise sales over the next year. Managing director Amanda
Matthews and her team spent six months finalising the Cruise Designers programme ahead of its launch last week. So far, 70 of Designer Travel’s 105 homeworkers have signed up. The year-long programme,
which results in Cruise Designer certification, allows homeworkers to earn points by attending weekly webinars, completing cruise lines’ training modules and organising consumer events such as coffee mornings or Zoom calls. Points can be exchanged for places on fam trips, cruise ship visits, Clia events and £250 to spend on cruise marketing. Matthews hopes the programme
will help her homeworkers be more “proactive” at selling cruise. She said: “It’s a great sales opportunity. Cruise customers are very loyal and repeat business is very high.”
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Tui Group seeks 1,500 recruits for destination and office roles
Tui Group aims to recruit 1,500 new staff as it gears up for a post-pandemic summer. More than 1,000 workers are being sought for roles across 100 holiday destinations, while 500 people are needed to fill technology and e-commerce positions. Recruitment will take place in the UK and Ireland as well as Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
travelweekly.co.uk
PICTURE: Shutterstock/jgolby
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