Surge of holidaymakers adds to Britain’s travel hubs stress

Bloomberg

Britain’s airports, airlines and ports face their most frenetic weekend for years as a surge of vacation-bound passengers puts further stress on travel hubs already hobbled by a staffing shortfall and other issues.
London’s Gatwick airport said it was set to be its busiest day since the start of the coronavirus
pandemic, surpassing April’s Easter rush, with more than 800 scheduled flights set to transport 120,000 passengers.
The great get-away will continue in coming days as school holidays and a four-day weekend for Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee celebrations combine to trigger an exodus of Brits to sunnier climes.
Numbers will be swollen this weekend by an estimated 70,000 fans of Liverpool football club heading to the Champions League final in Paris.
While Gatwick said it had “no significant queues,” passengers earlier took to social media complaining of long delays for security, boarding and even water fountains. Traffic lined up on roads near the Port of Dover as P&O Ferries continued to run a reduced service. Discount airline EasyJet Plc is cancelling more than 200 Gatwick flights between Saturday and June 6, the Evening Standard reported, citing a spokeswoman for the company. This comes after the carrier scrapped more than 200 flights Thursday amid an IT outage. Travel firms have urged people to arrive in good time for their departures after the Easter holiday saw chaos at hubs including Manchester airport, with facilities unable to cope amid worker and equipment shortages.
Staff shortages have been the chief trigger for disruption, with companies that dismissed workers or lost them to other sectors at the height of the pandemic struggling to make up the gap as bookings rebound with the easing of travel curbs. The situation has been compounded by issues such as the EasyJet IT glitch, with British Airways suffering a similar incident in March.
P&O also had its ships confined to port for safety checks after firing experienced seafarers and replacing them with lower paid ones, though the fleet is almost back to strength after several vessels cleared inspections.
While Britons are currently still in “a euphoric phase” as borders reopen, significant upheaval now could hurt demand later in the year when increased household costs are likely to be weighing on travel budgets.