IATA says post-pandemic airport chaos will get fixed – The Peninsula

IATA says post-pandemic airport chaos will get fixed – The Peninsula

PARIS - A top airline industry official called on Tuesday for calm surrounding recent travel chaos at some airports as people resume flying after the pandemic, blaming the gridlock on temporary delays in getting clearances for new staff.

A snapback in air travel has triggered long queues at some British airports, as well as Amsterdam, Dublin and Toronto, as airport managers struggle to fill jobs fast enough.

The time needed to get security badges for newly hired staff has risen from three to four weeks in Britain, for example, to as long as three months, said Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

"The problem is, you can't start the training until you've got the security clearance," Walsh told a small group of reporters on the sidelines of a conference on ground operations.

"You offer them a job, they accept it, and then you have to go through this period of three months to get security clearance - they're not going to hang around. They'll go and find a job somewhere else."

The former British Airways and IAG boss said he did not expect the trend to spread to other regions, but he sounded the alarm on growing pilot shortages in