Spanish airlines are still besieged and hundreds of flights are grounded

what lives Transport in the UK these days is a complete mess. Which led to the collapse of many infrastructures by land, sea and air in the country. In addition to the thousands of carriers trapped on the Eurotunnel Highway and boarding ports to cross the English Channel, there is the situation many airports live in with endless queues and suspended flights due to contagion in crews. EasyJet and British Airways.

Problems in both cases started several days ago and were not resolved in the middle of the vacation period. In addition, both affect Spain in some way: The first, because there are many Spanish airlines that have been affected by the collapse. The second, because there are also many Britons who travel to our country to enjoy their holidays.

As for carriers, waiting times decreased from 20 or 30 hours to three or four hours. This does not mean that the situation is no longer chaotic. Quite the opposite. He explains to this medium: “They wait inside a truck and don’t let you out.” Juan Jose Gil, Secretary General of the National Federation of Transport Associations of Spain (Fenadismer). Furthermore, the only alternative is to take a local route with a fine of £300; Many carriers keep their trucks in line.

All this entails huge losses for the business that UK carriers estimate £800 per truck (€950). They made it clear from the federation that for Spanish truck drivers, “the losses are incalculable”.

why? Because most of the trucks that transport goods to the UK return empty from this country, but on the way you find the goods to transport in other countries. “These are the clients who are lost,” says Juan Jose Gil. In addition, we export more to the UK (fresh produce, medicines, etc.) than we import from this country.

The situation is also discouraging more international airlines. It is estimated that 15,000 are missing in Spainwhich has been added to the tens of thousands also required in the rest of European countries.

The problem that will only get worse after Brexit. They pointed out from Fenadismer that “the shortage of supplies that the UK is experiencing is due to its unattractiveness for airlines to go to a country outside the European Union.”

In this collapse that caused a blockade in the port of Dover, there was a perfect storm different from the chaos that already occurred at Christmas 2020. We are talking about the problems that operator P&O Ferries is going through with staff shortages due to the layoffs of 800 workers, which we must Adding the return of British airlines to their countries and the start of the holidays.

In this situation, British authorities have started a traffic management system known as “Operation Brooke”, which is to give way to passenger cars, while heavy vehicles move to the left, causing queues of more than 10 km.

“This model was designed for the entry into force of Britain’s exit from the European Union and proved ineffective at Christmas 2020, leaving thousands of truck drivers stranded in the United Kingdom,” Regional Federation of Transport Organizations and Companies in Murcia (Fruit).

Hence, the union ensures that ugh of the consequences of the siegeThere will be a shortage of trucks in the Murcia region, where the planned rotation cannot be carried out.”

Chaos at the airports

What UK airports are experiencing is also a tragedy. Last week, airlines EasyJet and British Airways had to cancel hundreds of flights due to the lack of personnel infected with the Covid-19 virus.

An ongoing case, with a greater impact on EasyJet. The airline canceled more than 200 flights over the weekendAnd the suspensions continue for this week (62 on Monday and 32 on Tuesday), according to “The Times.”

Added to this situation are the breakdowns at some airports such as Manchester, with long waiting times at security checkpoints. And the airport warned on its Twitter account, “As we recover from the epidemic and increase the number of passengers, the security queues may be longer than usual.”

Which is that this situation came on complete leave and an unexpected recovery in demand also affects Heathrow, Gatwick and Birmingham airports. Hence, they insist that passengers arrive at the airport earlier than usual. The staff shortage will be behind all these problems.

In fact, here in Spain Airlines Association (ALA) The Ministry of Interior demanded an increase in the number of police officers at passport controls at the airports with the most international traffic. The idea was specifically to avoid long wait times for flights as in the UK.

The good news is that in both cases the chaotic situation appears to be improving. Although there will still be a few more days of chaos.

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