The CEO of Ryanair has said that some "didn't prepare" for the end of the Covid pandemic and that he thinks the current situation with chaos at airports could continue. Eddie Wilson, CEO of Ryanair, spoke to WalesOnline at Funchal Airport in Madeira to mark Ryanair's new base there.
Passengers at some of the UK's major airports have experienced disappointment this week, with dozens of flights being cancelled as airlines continue to struggle with staff shortages. Passengers travelling through some major UK airports have been warned to arrive as much as four hours before their flight is due to take off. Manchester Airport in particular has been hit by staffing issues, with a string of measures being brought in to ease the disruption, which has led to flight cancellations and chaos in terminals.
"We've seen it in lots of parts of the economy where people struggled with getting people back from furlough and sometimes people didn't prepare for when the pandemic was over," Mr Wilson said. "We've been planning for that all along and it's difficult to restart airlines but we were planning for that right from March 2020 when airlines stopped flying. We kept our aircraft flying, we kept our aircraft current and maintained, and our people current as well."
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He added that airlines had seen "a couple of false starts" in returning to normal operation, with the outbreak of the Omicron variant of coronavirus and the start of the war in Ukraine. However, he added that he thinks this summer, "particularly in peak periods, is going to be strong".
Mr Wilson said he hopes to see a return to normality. "Hopefully we don't have any speedbumps going into the autumn when we might have the resurgence of new Omicron variants but I think the world has hopefully adapted to this and we'll see a return to normality," he said. "We're up 15% from where we were in the summer of 2019." In response to a question about whether he thought that "not everyone" was prepared for the end of the pandemic, he said "clearly".
"I think a lot of people were working from home and detached from reality, and maybe thought we were never coming back, so I think they're being caught out," Mr Wilson said. "But in fairness, Brexit hasn't helped either, because a lot of people from central and eastern Europe who used to work in the UK went home and didn't come back and there's going to be a period of adjustment in the labour force in the UK for either people to come on visas or get people back to work who are on benefits maybe, I don't know.
"But the flexibility of the UK labour force has really been shown now by the implications of Brexit. One of the fundamental things we had in the European Union is not only the movement of capital but the movement of people. The movement of people is so important, particularly for a labour force."
When asked whether he thought the UK would see another few months of airlines not running as smoothly as normal, he said: "I think so," adding: "I think some of the airlines are struggling, some of the handling companies, some of the airports are struggling, but again, that's throughout the economy.
"We saw late last year the shortage of HGV drivers, supply chain interruptions, but I think companies could have been better prepared. But everybody is experiencing some sort of - you know - when you stop an airline and start it again, it's a difficult thing to do, but thankfully I think we're in a good position for the summer."
Mr Wilson said he was "extremely happy" that Ryanair was launching a base in Madeira, adding that the airline is planning to fly 165 million passengers across its bases this year.
"We're extremely happy [to launch in Funchal, Madeira's capital]," Mr Wilson told WalesOnline. "It's one of those places that, particularly for a winter destination, we wanted to do for some time, and now that we've got critical mass in Portugal, we've really filled out regional airports here in Portugal."
When asked if he was worried about how the cost of living crisis in the UK would impact people's ability to travel, he said: "I think people will always want to go on their holidays, and our experience is that, even during the last financial crisis from 2008, it dovetailed one of our largest growth periods because people who hadn't previously flown with Ryanair migrated to Ryanair and never left because they were on a brand new aircraft with great punctuality and the fares were really low.
"I think the same thing is going to happen this time. I think people will be challenged in terms of inflation but the Brits will still want to go on their holidays, like the Paddies. When you've got a great destination like this and can make a weekend break or short break, I think that's going to be really attractive."
