The travel industry in Europe is in chaos due to strikes, lost luggage, rising rates, and thousands of cancelled flights. Thousands of flights have been cancelled by airlines because of harsh weather phenomenon, crew shortages, and strike actions.
Several airlines advise passengers to arrive at check-in four to five hours early.
Travel demand has surged following two years of pandemic restrictions, but airlines and airports that slashed staff during the peak of the COVID-19 crisis are finding it hard to keep up. As Europe's busy summer travel season gets under way, travellers are experiencing chaotic airport scenes, including long delays, cancelled flights, and concerns over lost luggages.
According to media reports, strikes by the cabin crew, a lack of workers, an unusually high demand, and other intense pressures paralysed European air transport in June.
According to reports, the number of flights cancelled to some of the major tourist destinations in the European Union has more than tripled. Nearly twice as many cancellations occur in the EU as do so in the US.
According to data from Cirium, 15,700 flights were cancelled by airlines throughout Europe for August, which represents 60% of all cancellations worldwide.
In an effort to reduce the chaos at security lines and check-in, London Heathrow Airport has attempted to reduce the number of passengers that fly out of its terminals from 104,000 to 100,000 each day until September.
On Sunday, July 17, 500 flights were cancelled in Italy due to strikes by low-cost airline workers and air traffic controllers demanding higher wages.
Pilots are increasingly issuing warnings that aviation travel in Europe is reaching a breaking point and may never be the same. According to Bloomberg, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa, which are located further north in Europe, curtailed the sale of their low-cost tickets and Deutsche Lufthansa opted to cancel one-fifth of its trips from Frankfurt and Munich.
The European Cockpit Association (ECA), a group of pilots and aviation industry professionals, claims that the pandemic's mass layoffs severely impacted the industry and cost it many of its experienced employees.
Staff members will be stretched to the maximum in the summer of 2022 as a result of these layoffs and the extraordinary demand for cheap flights. Because of the perceived risk of working in the unstable business during the pandemic, airlines are finding it difficult to hire new employees and pilots.
Pilots and cabin crew are now hired more frequently through agencies, on zero-hour contracts, and as independent contractors. As a result, working conditions, remuneration, and representation have become substantially more uncertain.
Striking Ryanair employees complained unfair working conditions and remuneration, even alleging that they occasionally went short supplies such as water and other necessities. These new circumstances were labelled as "social dumping" by the ECA.
According to the ECA, a significant portion of the employment shortages currently plaguing Europe could have been prevented during the pandemic. The current aviation crisis has been beneficial for airlines that have kept workers, many of whom have years of expertise managing busy flight periods.
The European travel crisis has not affected all airlines. Some more expensive, flag carrier airlines have performed better than more budget-oriented, cost-conscious airlines.
In recent ECA ranking of social commitments for airlines, traditional low-cost carriers are obviously near the bottom of the list, whereas airlines such as Air France and KLM typically score higher for their treatment of staff and working conditions.
Cost-cutting, maximum efficiency, and other cost-saving techniques are prioritised by low-cost airlines. This frequently comes at the expense of the workforce, who are the first to experience pay cuts and worsening circumstances.
The future of low-cost airlines is uncertain, according to several senior pilots. There is an obvious trade-off between pricing and employee welfare under the current fuel cost and demand conditions.
According to Forbes, heatwaves, wildfires, and rising Covid-19 infection rates across Europe make the travel appear to be the easy part.
This week, many regions of Europe, including the U.K. and France, are predicted to experience record-breaking temperatures of 40 degrees.
Spain and Portugal have been suffocated by extreme temperatures. Since July 10, at least 360 fatalities occurred in Spain, while 659 have suffered in Portugal, where temperatures hit 46 degrees Celsius.
In the Gironde area of southwest France, a wildfire nearly the size of downtown Paris is raging, forcing 16,000 residents to flee on Monday, July 18. It's one of many wildfires now burning in France, and experts are facing difficulties containing it.
In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified Europe as the region at the centre of a recent wave of international Covid-19 infections, according to Bloomberg. The WHO's Health Emergencies Programme's executive director, Michael Ryan, told the media that "we are seeing a considerably more intense wave of the disease sweeping through Europe again."
People were reportedly "passing out" at Gatwick Airport in the UK on Saturday after being forced to wait at their gate "without air conditioning" because of the heat.
According to experts, it might be preferable to avoid checking bags and stay local (at least to roads and rail, rather than air). Travelers are advised to at the very least have as much insurance as possible and to give themselves ample extra time to account for delays, the heat, and crowds.
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