Ryanair's Michael O'Leary blames Brexit for airport disruption

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Travel chaos has been sweeping throughout the country over recent weeks, with massive queues at airports leaving thousands of passengers furious. Airlines have now started announcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights in a desperate bid to bring the chaotic situation under control. EasyJet, which operated hundreds of flights from the UK to popular holiday destinations each day, has said its summer schedule will shrink by seven per cent in a bid to eliminate short-notice cancellations.

Johan Lundgren, the airline’s chief executive, said it has been forced to reject 8,000 applications from the European Union citizens because candidates did not have permission to work in the UK.

Last week, Aviation Minister Robert Courts shot down Brexit is to blame, telling MPs on the business select committee it was “not likely” that leaving the EU played a part in the staff shortages.

But EasyJet boss Mr Lundgren told The Independent: “The pool of people is smaller, it’s just maths.

“We have had to turn down a huge number of EU nationals because of Brexit.

“Pre-pandemic we would have turned down 2-2.5 per cent because of nationality issues. Now it’s 35-40 per cent.”

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said Brexit was compounding the disruption as demand surges after pandemic restrictions were lifted, with airports unable to hire workers from abroad to fill posts.

He claimed the UK leaving the EU is “one of the big bugbears in the system” as it has imposed “enormous labour market inflexibilities in the UK”.

Mr O’Leary told Sky News: “Some of these pinch points would be resolved very quickly and very rapidly if we could bring in European workers to do the jobs that people in the UK are not applying for and don’t want to do.

“If we can’t attract people to do those jobs, like baggage handling and security at airports, we’ll have to bring in workers from elsewhere, whether that is from Ireland or continental Europe.

He added: “Brexit is one of the big bugbears in the system.

“It has introduced enormous labour market inflexibilities in the UK and there are hundreds of thousands of jobs that UK workers don’t want to do.”

The Ryanair boss warned flight delays and cancellations will continue “right throughout the summer” as airports suffer amid staff shortages.

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He warned passengers to prepare for a “less than satisfactory experience”.

Flight delays are set to last throughout the peak season and some airlines cancelling between five percent and 10 percent of flights.

The claims contradict comments made by aviation minister Mr Courts, who was last week asked was asked about the role of Brexit in the current turmoil.

He replied: “On the evidence we have, it looks as if Brexit has little if anything to do with it.”

The latest comments come with Heathrow airport asking airlines from from Terminal 2 and 3 to cancel 10 percent of their schedules on Monday due to mounting problems with baggage handling.

The chaotic situation began with a significant system failure that led to a build-up of a “baggage mountain” outside Terminal 2.

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