Series of flight cancellations, but why at all?

Tuesday, August 2, 2022

In the last couple of months, UK and America have seen a series of flight cancellations. The entire summer travel season has been disrupted with the gravest of problems to date. The post-pandemic era has seen some of the most difficult times with flight cancellations.

While the recovery from the damage done in the pandemic era might be difficult, having the tourism industry support the economy is an emergency in most countries.

Flight delays

There are 7499 flights delayed in the US today 2nd of August, 2022. The total cancellations today are 1577 and the total cancellations today are 78. This huge number is not an exception but a summation of the total.

The reason for this nightmarish condition underlies somewhere from infrastructural failure to labour unrest to staff shortages. Lesser number of flights scheduled has disrupted the travel decision much more. All of these indicators at a single point, that the infrastructure of airlines has been affected more than one could have imagined.

Pay cuts and employee strike

Months of job cuts and pay cuts have been a continual reality during and after the pandemic. A majority of employees working in the airline industry have continually asked for better working conditions and pay rises. Norwegian Air has agreed to give its pilots a 3.7% pay rise. But, not all the airlines could provide the pay rise. Hence, they had to reduce the working pressure and get them in the right department in order to make the working conditions better.

In July, both Ryanair and SAS decided to abide by the demands of the pilot’s union. British Airways and Air France-KLM also reached wage deals with ground staff. These deals were made during the busy holiday season.

On July 31. the Lufthansa pilots have voted for going on a strike. The union, Vereinigung Cockpit, is demanding a 5.5% pay rise this year and automatic inflation compensation thereafter.

Airlines are on a hiring spree

Another important element of the scandal is Airlines are on a spree of hiring. However, most Airlines have faced an immense amount of problems in finding the right people for several jobs. The candidates have demanded more salary than most of the airlines could pay.

Amsterdam’s Schiphol has agreed to hire 15,000 workers for the summer season. Additionally, they will hire 500 more security staff to maintain their current 58,000 employees. Paris’ Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports that laid off 20, 000 people during the pandemic need to hire 4,000 workers for various jobs.

The issues are diverse. An economic drawback and a total disruption in the funding possibilities have created a confused state in most Airlines. The travellers have suffered the most. Unless some of the issues are settled among the many, peace is a distant possibility.

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