Jet2 has criticized airports for being “pathetically ill-prepared and ill-equipped” which has resulted in “inexcusable” travel chaos.
The vacation company said customers should have had a “much worse experience” than they should have, citing the “often atrocious customer service” from airports and ground-handling providers, long queues, baggage-handling problems, delays and a lack of onboard catering supplies .
Thousands of British travelers have seen theirs Flights canceled in the last few weeks – many in the short term – as the airline industry struggles with staff shortages and growing demand in the wake of the pandemic.
Executive Chairman Philip Meeson said: “Most of our 10 UK base airports were woefully ill-prepared and ill-equipped for the volume of customers they could reasonably expect, as were other suppliers such as in-flight caterers and airport PRM (passengers with reduced mobility) providers ) Services.
“Inexcusable considering our flights have been on sale for many months and our load factor is quite normal.”
“This difficult return to normal operations is simply due to the lack of planning, willingness and unwillingness to invest on the part of many airports and related suppliers,” he added.
Jet2 said it was “directly affected” by the disruption and said its performance in the current year would depend on how quickly the aviation sector returns to “a degree of stability” as well as the number of bookings going forward.
Continue reading: easyJet reported on the treatment of passengers with canceled flights
The group reported statutory pre-tax profit of £388.8m for the year to March, up from £341.3m a year earlier.
It came as the owner of Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports announced £320million in losses over the same period, with passenger numbers reaching just a third of pre-pandemic levels.
The group served 20.5 million passengers, which was more than triple the previous year when the COVID lockdowns took hold.
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Manchester Airports Group (MAG) said their combined losses over the past two years total £694m.
It said it, like all airports, “has experienced challenges to rebuild staffing levels quickly enough to meet this recurring demand, which has led to some disruptions at our airports.”
However, MAG said it has “welcomed hundreds of new colleagues to the facility,” adding, “We expect to have the resources we need ahead of the busy summer season.”