Continued from page 46
25% year on year in the war’s second week. However, a senior aviation
analyst warned we would see “a lot less bravado” in coming months. European airline chiefs,
meeting at an Airlines for Europe summit in Brussels, warned of shortages of jet fuel and acknowledged discussing contingency plans. Fuel suppliers would give no
guidance on availability beyond the next month, easyJet boss Kenton Jarvis reported, saying: “They’re not prepared to say, ‘We’ve no issues in six weeks’.” Air France-KLM chief Ben
Smith reported discussing “scenarios on how we deal with the shortage of fuel”, suggesting it could mean cutting back services to Asia even as some carriers propose additional flights. Smith noted: “Southeast
Asia is much more dependent on fuel coming over the Gulf than Europe. When we go to [a] southeast Asian city, we’re not going to be able to fly back.” Speaking at a Tourism
Insights conference in London, Iata government affairs manager Peter O’Broin insisted: “The sector will adapt and get through this. But the Middle East is so central and there is the scale of the problem. Are we going be in this situation in six months or a year? A lot of markets have about a one-month supply of fuel.” He said: “The industry has
systems to manage gradual changes in oil price. [But] we’re in a shock right now, a bit like when Covid struck. “It’s a cost challenge, an
energy security challenge and a network shock.”
Lawyer warns of rising AI use in tribunal claims
Ian Taylor
Specialist law firm Travlaw has warned industry employers of a surge in employment tribunal claims driven partly by claimants using AI tools rather than seeking legal advice. Travlaw noted the latest Tribunal
Statistics Quarterly for October to December 2025, released by the Ministry of Justice earlier this month, showed a 54% increase in claims over the same period in 2024 and a 49% rise in the open caseload, “signalling claims are not only rising, but also taking longer to resolve”. In a warning to the sector, Travlaw
partner and head of employment Ami Naru said: “The data paints a striking picture of the continued and accelerating pressure on the Employment Tribunal system.” She noted “the tribunal system
is already under strain” from an increase in “complex ‘open track’
Employment Rights Act 2025 would “likely add even more pressure” if company processes around working patterns, redundancy and probation are not updated quickly to take account of the reforms. Naru urged employers to ensure
Ami Naru
claims involving whistleblowing or discrimination” which demand more judicial time and slow down the tribunal system. That is now being exacerbated
by increasing use of AI by claimants to draft claims and responses to legal letters, leading to filings being “overly long, highly complex or procedurally incorrect”. AI-fuelled claims are thereby “placing a further burden” on tribunal resources and “making the employer’s defence more challenging”, said Naru. She warned changes under the
they have up-to-date contracts of employment, “robust and legally compliant” staff handbooks, clear procedures for grievances, disciplinary action, performance management and whistleblowing, “well-documented decision-making”, and “early access” to legal support when issues arise. She noted a significant proportion
of tribunal claims arise from “outdated policies, inconsistent procedures, ambiguous contractual terms” and “poorly documented HR processes” and described the sharp rise in tribunal claims as “a clear warning”, saying: “This steep rise in claims, combined with delays and complexity, makes risk management more important than ever.”
BRC highlights loss of 383,000 retail jobs in 10 years
The British Retail Consortium has warned the government risks pricing young people out of retail jobs after Office for National Statistics data showed the sector lost almost 400,000 jobs in the last decade. The ONS reported retail job
numbers averaged 2.81 million last year – 1.2 million of them full-time – 68,000 fewer than in 2024 and
46 26 MARCH 2026
383,000 fewer than in 2015. BRC chief executive Helen
Dickinson said the reduction in jobs represented “the loss of hundreds of thousands of opportunities for young people to start earning and for older people to return to the workforce”, noting: “One in five people had their first job in retail.” She said: “The cost of employing
a full-time entry-level worker rose by 10% in 2025, while part-time employment [costs] rose 13%.” Dickinson welcomed expansion
of the government’s Youth Guarantee scheme for 18-24-year- olds but said: “Flexibility is under
Helen Dickinson
threat from how the Employment Rights Act is implemented. Poorly designed changes to guaranteed hours could make it harder for businesses to offer part-time work. The priority must be [to] protect workers and job creation.”
travelweekly.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
