An industry source said: “The real, real problem is ground handling staff. This summer is going to be really, really hard. The entire airline industry needs to wake up and see that there are significant issues.” Paul Charles, the chief executive of PC Agency, a travel consultancy, warned: “The summer of stress for consumers, as well as airline workers, will continue throughout the peak period of July and August. “Airlines and consumers are rightly annoyed that Heathrow is only now drawing up these plans when they have known for weeks that their staffing gap is unfillable. Many more holidays will be ruined by these seat covers.”
