Perfect Storm

[hads]

People want low fares, that means airlines having to cut costs, then handling agents have to offer cheaper services and thus the vicious cycle goes on.

Low fares, but people want the same level of service. The airlines cannot win.

Pre Covid, Planes were full. Airports were increasing volume. More people were flying on cheap fares. Airports and Airlines enjoyed the benefits of critical mass. Then the plague arrived. Its over now and we need to get back to what it was or people will not bother to travel.Manchester at the weekend was a shitshow. Geneva 2 weeks ago for us was a shitshow. Heathrow at the weekend , same.

Has every other business had restrictions put on it like travel & aviation? Each countries entry requirements differ, constantly change and it takes forever to check the rules. Maybe that’s why there’s such a shitshow at the airports? Heavy fines apply when rules are broken. Have a think about that coupled with an industry that was brought to its knees and now unable to bring staff back quickly enough. You’re the first to have a go when something happens to your beloved printing industry. Show a bit of empathy for our beloved industry FFS man.

Im empathetic by nature. Honest. But detest the situation where excuses are everywhere. Excuses getting rolled out do nothing to improve anything.
The print Industry is not loved by me at all. Its just where I am and its been a shit show for 20 years. perhaps thats why Im immune.

[atuk]

Thanks all for the feedback, good and bad.

Firstly I do feel sorry for the folks who actually keep us in work - the flying public. Yes it’s wrong that they are suffering however each person is only capable of delivering as much as they can during a single shift.

Yes manning levels are cut to a bare minimum - there is no financial fat to allow any more.
So you are allotted x flights to check in, meet, board during your shift. It’s all fine on paper then flights go off schedule. Late passengers / connecting passengers can cause delays, unprepared passengers cause security delays, a ramp operator can only drive one tug at a time,a baggage operator can only deal with one flight at a time, or steps, or single staff at a gate where normally there are two, sometimes three.

Add to this current Covid infection rates! We may be exiting this but it’s still around.I’m one of those off work having tested positive. Have I been in any confined spaces? Yes twice two days in succession checking a seat onboard navigating congested aisles despite being masked and sanitised.
But one of many in the same boat. Even although I feel reasonably okay that test remains positive meantime therefore, even if I wanted to, I can’t go to work.

No, as you say Hads, it’s far from ideal but the industry warned many, many months ago there would be issues. These have now come to fruition.

The unexpected elephant in the room is Covid absence, on the increase again at the very time travel is also on a upward trend. It’s Murphy’s Law.

[Billyboeing]

Manchester Airport boss quits due recent chaos


https://www.ttgmedia.com/news/mancheste ... nals-33620?
utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Evening%20Bulletin

[1-11]

I keep hearing people say, “they want to get back to normal”.
It’s a bit like longing for your childhood again, getting back once more to those days of carefree innocence.
Sadly, like childhood, “Normal” is not coming back.
The reason for this is simple. We’re skint, and we cannot afford it. We actually never could afford it.
That “we” is we as a country, the UK, not “we” as in us individuals.
Some of us still have money, enough for a few pints or to see us through our dottage, but as a country we are bankrupt. Our Economy is in ruins, due to decades of mis-management and also a blatant lack of understanding as to what an economy actually is and how it works.

Now, I could go on about the Brexit and Covid debacles, but what these events actually did was only accelerate the inevitable decline of the UK.
Brexit and Covid in themselves were not the fundamental reasons for the decline that we are experiencing. The UK economy was already mortally wounded before either of these events came along.

An economy is essentially an Energy system. The more energy you have, the bigger and faster you can grow or sustain your economy.
Money as most people understand it, does not come into it. Governments can print as much of the folding stuff as they want, but it does not increase the wealth of the nation. For the past 20yrs or more, that is exactly what has been happening. Governments have been printing money Willy-Nilly and giving it to people just to keep their economies rolling on.
In that time however, no new wealth was created, ( - allow me a wee bit of hyperbole ), so our lifestyles were essentially funded on Tick.
All those planes full of punters heading off to the sun, paid for by an abstract increase in the value of their houses. It was never real.

It’s now Chickens coming home time.
Energy prices are going up,
Hell – Everything is going up !

The aviation industry which we all knew and loved, is now a dead man walking.
It just does not know it yet.

What the above posts have been describing are just the death throes of an industry that is trying to make an old business model work in a fundamentally and permanently changed world.

[Clive]

I keep hearing people say, “they want to get back to normal”.
It’s a bit like longing for your childhood again, getting back once more to those days of carefree innocence.
Sadly, like childhood, “Normal” is not coming back.
The reason for this is simple. We’re skint, and we cannot afford it. We actually never could afford it.
That “we” is we as a country, the UK, not “we” as in us individuals.
Some of us still have money, enough for a few pints or to see us through our dottage, but as a country we are bankrupt. Our Economy is in ruins, due to decades of mis-management and also a blatant lack of understanding as to what an economy actually is and how it works.

Now, I could go on about the Brexit and Covid debacles, but what these events actually did was only accelerate the inevitable decline of the UK.
Brexit and Covid in themselves were not the fundamental reasons for the decline that we are experiencing. The UK economy was already mortally wounded before either of these events came along.

An economy is essentially an Energy system. The more energy you have, the bigger and faster you can grow or sustain your economy.
Money as most people understand it, does not come into it. Governments can print as much of the folding stuff as they want, but it does not increase the wealth of the nation. For the past 20yrs or more, that is exactly what has been happening. Governments have been printing money Willy-Nilly and giving it to people just to keep their economies rolling on.
In that time however, no new wealth was created, ( - allow me a wee bit of hyperbole ), so our lifestyles were essentially funded on Tick.
All those planes full of punters heading off to the sun, paid for by an abstract increase in the value of their houses. It was never real.

It’s now Chickens coming home time.
Energy prices are going up,
Hell – Everything is going up !

The aviation industry which we all knew and loved, is now a dead man walking.
It just does not know it yet.

What the above posts have been describing are just the death throes of an industry that is trying to make an old business model work in a fundamentally and permanently changed world.

The UK isn’t a country. I’m sure I stated that before.

[Paris]

I keep hearing people say, “they want to get back to normal”.
It’s a bit like longing for your childhood again, getting back once more to those days of carefree innocence.
Sadly, like childhood, “Normal” is not coming back.
The reason for this is simple. We’re skint, and we cannot afford it. We actually never could afford it.
That “we” is we as a country, the UK, not “we” as in us individuals.
Some of us still have money, enough for a few pints or to see us through our dottage, but as a country we are bankrupt. Our Economy is in ruins, due to decades of mis-management and also a blatant lack of understanding as to what an economy actually is and how it works.

Now, I could go on about the Brexit and Covid debacles, but what these events actually did was only accelerate the inevitable decline of the UK.
Brexit and Covid in themselves were not the fundamental reasons for the decline that we are experiencing. The UK economy was already mortally wounded before either of these events came along.

An economy is essentially an Energy system. The more energy you have, the bigger and faster you can grow or sustain your economy.
Money as most people understand it, does not come into it. Governments can print as much of the folding stuff as they want, but it does not increase the wealth of the nation. For the past 20yrs or more, that is exactly what has been happening. Governments have been printing money Willy-Nilly and giving it to people just to keep their economies rolling on.
In that time however, no new wealth was created, ( - allow me a wee bit of hyperbole ), so our lifestyles were essentially funded on Tick.
All those planes full of punters heading off to the sun, paid for by an abstract increase in the value of their houses. It was never real.

It’s now Chickens coming home time.
Energy prices are going up,
Hell – Everything is going up !

The aviation industry which we all knew and loved, is now a dead man walking.
It just does not know it yet.

What the above posts have been describing are just the death throes of an industry that is trying to make an old business model work in a fundamentally and permanently changed world.

Got a tad bored reading this post: UK this n UK that … at least 1/2 of this country couldn’t give a monkey spunk about “the UK” and that number is by demographics at least increasing … a large % of the no voters are no longer breathing and more of the young are … I wouldn’t bleat on about “the UK” as if it’s a done deal anymore.

[1-11]

I see that some of you have decided to miss my point by focussing instead on a triviality.

For the record, This country is the United Kingdom. That is an indisputable fact.
How long it will stay "united" for, is not what is being discussed here.
No matter how much your heart might yearn for independence, the fact is - you do not have it.
This is what is known as "Realpolitik".
Deal with the facts the way that they are, and not the way you would like them to be.

Much of what is being discussed here hangs on political decisions made elsewhere and until you have control over these decisions, then you just need to go along with decisions made on your behalf by other people.

Now if anybody has got a comment which is on-topic and relevant to the discussion, then I am interested to hear it.

[Clive]

I see that some of you have decided to miss my point by focussing instead on a triviality.

For the record, This country is the United Kingdom. That is an indisputable fact.
How long it will stay "united" for, is not what is being discussed here.
No matter how much your heart might yearn for independence, the fact is - you do not have it.
This is what is known as "Realpolitik".
Deal with the facts the way that they are, and not the way you would like them to be.

Much of what is being discussed here hangs on political decisions made elsewhere and until you have control over these decisions, then you just need to go along with decisions made on your behalf by other people.

Now if anybody has got a comment which is on-topic and relevant to the discussion, then I am interested to hear it.

Getting basic facts right is far from trivial, it’s fundamental. The ‘United Kingdom’ refers to a political union between, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Although the UK is a fully independent sovereign state, the 4 nations that make it up are also countries in their own rIght.

Whenever you talk of future doom and gloom you seem to be confused as to what country you are talking about. We are interested in our own country here. Scotland.

[Ekally1]

Can we stop all this political chat ... getting annoying and only causes arguments . We get people have political preference but this is about glasgow airport

[Clive]

Can we stop all this political chat ... getting annoying and only causes arguments . We get people have political preference but this is about glasgow airport

I think 1-11 was saying that the air travel industry is finished.

It’s not.