Chief executive Luis Gallego has spoken out against criticism from transport secretary Grant Shapps, who accused airlines and operators of "seriously overselling flights and holidays" at a time when the industry doesn’t have the staffing capacity to deliver some of these trips.

Speaking to The Times, Gallego said the government "has to take some accountability for all this" and work with the aviation industry in a "constructive" way. 

"They have said the problem was that we overbooked and didn’t forecast demand, but forecasting demand is one thing we as airlines know how to do... The more difficult thing has been to forecast what the government is going to do," he added.

He criticised the government for changing the traffic light system "ten or 11 times in a few months", before dropping all restrictions "suddenly" before Easter "without any coordination".

Speaking about Shapps’ comments on the industry, he said: "We were surprised and we want to explain what is happening, because it is not fair to tell the public that this is all caused by the airlines.

"Can we do it better? For sure. Do we have our own problems? For sure. But everybody needs to understand they can do things better."

He further claimed Britain "did less" to support airlines than most other countries. "In Spain, the furlough scheme offered more money for employees and lasted right through until March," he continued.

"The British scheme ended in September 2021, even before Omicron hit. The Irish government put on more restrictions than others, so we needed to cut employment there, but now the recovery is going smoother than it is in the UK."