A hiring spree has failed to keep pace with the recovery in passenger demand. Insiders said this problem has now been made worse by delays to security checks for new employees.
Referencing and vetting typically requires between 14 and 15 weeks to complete. But industry insiders said it is now taking “substantially longer”. Some delays were up to twice as long.
That glorious efficiency of the State again, eh?
What do these new hires do for 15 + weeks? Are they allowed (gasp!) to interact with the public?
I might be persuaded to become an airline pilot if I could work from home.
I have a friend that works at Gatwick in baggage handling. He predicted chaos weeks ago as they simply didn’t have enough staff to cope with the busier summer schedule.
He has messaged me this morning…
They had already cancelled 19 flights 07:30 so it is not looking brilliant for my family who are supposed to be flying out Friday morning.
here in Ireland the blame is being placed on a shortage of security staff. New staff have been employed but there is a delay in their security clearance. The fact that they couldn’t anticipate the increase in passenger numbers boggles the mind.
When the choice is get paid to work, or get paid not to go back to work after a 24 month vacation, it’s not hard to see where the problem is.
Airport security used to be a steady stable job; people accepted a lower salary in exchange for the stability. Now you never know when another pandemic / lockdown / global thermonuclear war will make you redundant, so workers demand a risk premium.
A slight ratcheting up of the Ukraine war & we’ll see the Atlantic Airbridge in operation & no commercial flights in European airspace. As always, one can look on the bright side.