Travel delays addressed by former Transport Minister

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Mr Baker discussed the current crisis taking place in UK airports. The current demand for holidays has not been met by travel companies, who are currently lacking staff and struggling to meet high demands for them. Some Britons have been left stranded for up to ten hours or more in UK airports, due to flight cancellations and delays. The former Transport Minister discussed how this was the first time in a few years for some Britons to travel abroad, due to the global Covid pandemic which saw demand for holidays reduced.

Mr Baker told Talk TV: “Well if I was in charge I’d be doing what I think Grant Shapps should be doing, which is getting everybody around the table to try and find out exactly what’s happening and how it can be fixed as soon as possible.

“But I mean look, I’ve got every sympathy for people trying to fly out of the country at the moment.

“You’ve had years and years of Covid, we’ve had people not able to fly out of the country to go on holiday.

“And very timely now… But probably for the first time in years to have a short break.

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Mr Baker added: “You find that either there’s a massive queue at the airport, or even worse and now your flights have been cancelled.

“I’d like to say that I’m due to fly on business actually, to Italy on Sunday for a day.

“And I’m not confident the flight will get me there or get me back.”

UK travellers going through UK airports have been claiming that they have never witnessed such long queues.

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Many travellers have been calling on the UK Government to step in, in order to tackle the crisis.

The current Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps addressed the issue.

Mr Shapps said: “It’s been very distressing to see passengers facing yet more disruption at airports, having well-earned holidays cancelled and plans left in disarray.

“Although some steps have been taken, we are still not seeing the progress we need to.”

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Holiday company TUI has made the decision to scrap scheduled flights in order to manage the current crisis.

Yesterday TUI said in a statement: “ We would like to apologise to our customers who have experienced flight delays and cancellations in recent days and understand that many of our customers have been looking forward to their holiday with us for a long time.

“Due to the amount of ongoing disruption in our operation at Manchester Airport, we have made the incredibly difficult decision to cancel six flights a day (43 flights a week), from Tuesday, May 31, until Thursday, June 30.

“We understand how disappointing this will be for those impacted; however, we believe this is necessary to provide stability and better customer service at Manchester Airport.

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