‘Rusty’ aviation industry needs time to get flowing again, with passengers facing higher ticket prices amid rising fuel costs and staff shortages, Qantas chief warns

Pent-up demand in Europe, America and Australia has caught airports and airlines off guard, having laid off thousands of staff during the pandemic

Passengers, including some from Hong Kong, have already endured long queues, flight delays and cancellations at European airports

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Hong Kong’s role as an air transit hub has suffered due to its stringent entry rules enacted to curb Covid-19. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:26am, 20 Jun 2022Updated: 3:14pm, 12 Jul 2022

Rustiness is impeding the aviation industry’s global recovery and it may take months or longer for some regions to get back to pre-pandemic levels, according to the boss of Australian carrier Qantas, with rising fuel costs pushing up ticket prices and labour shortages adding to woes.

Speaking to the media ahead of the annual meeting of global airline industry body IATA in Doha on Sunday, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said a major topic of discussion would be the issue of a “rusty industry [and] trying to get it flowing again to get it back to the precision instrument it used to be. There are blocks in the chain all the way through”.

Pointing to labour shortages at European airports, where passengers had endured long queues, flight delays and cancellations, Joyce said Qantas had managed to cut waiting times at its customer service call centres from two hours two months ago to three minutes and was working to fix other operational issues.

“It is going to take time getting the system running and as efficient as it was before Covid and that may take a few weeks, a few months. In some cases, maybe a bit longer than that,” he said. “We’re confident in Australia, we will be there in a few weeks.”

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce. Photo: Bloomberg

Pent-up demand in Europe, America and Australia has caught airports and airlines off guard, having laid off thousands of staff, including pilots, cabin crew and ground-handling staff, during the pandemic.