The plan sets out ways the government claims to be supporting the aviation industry, including helping to recruit and train staff, ensuring the delivery of a “realistic” summer schedule, minimising disruption and assisting passengers facing unavoidable delays and cancellations.

Its release comes as schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland finish for summer and follows the announcement of a one-off “amnesty” on airport slot rules aimed at helping carriers avoid last-minute cancellations. 

In a statement, the Department for Transport said that despite the support it was offering the industry, it was now time “for the sector itself to undertake the appropriate steps” to avoid the “chaos” seen over Easter and half term.

Ministers said they believed relaxing immigration rules to boost aviation recruitment was “not an obvious solution to the problem” - citing aviation disruption seen across the EU and US.

As part of the outlined plans, the government has established a new weekly Strategic Risk group, a Summer Resilience group and a joint Home Office and DfT Ministerial Border group. The authority will also receive weekly updates from airports and airlines to ensure their schedules are carried out as planned.

Elsewhere, a new Aviation Passenger Charter will act as a "one-stop guide" for passengers’ travel information and a Generation Aviation campaign will promote awareness of careers in the sector.

The government will also work to strengthen consumer protection for air passengers by granting the CAA additional powers, as well as launching a new £700,000 skills funding competition with the association to support outreach across the sector.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said holidaymakers “deserve certainty” ahead of the first summer free of restrictions since the pandemic began.

“While it’s never going to be possible to avoid every single delay or cancellation, we’ve been working closely with airports and airlines to make sure they are running realistic schedules,” said Shapps.

“It’s now on airports and airlines to commit to running the flights they’ve promised or cancel them with plenty of time to spare so we can avoid the kind of scenes we saw at Easter and half-term.”

Since the half-term disruption, ministers and government officials have been meeting with the industry weekly to discuss summer plans “and work through any issues in the system” ahead of the summer season the DfT added.

Aviation minister Robert Courts said he was “enormously grateful” for the “constructive” discussions with the industry over issues during Easter and half-term.

“The action we’ve taken to support airlines and airports isn’t just about minimising disruption this summer, but helping the sector recruit the staff it needs for the long term. I look forward to continuing to support them in this effort where we can,” he added. 

CAA chief executive, Richard Moriarty, promised the body would work alongside government and the wider industry “to help deliver a better experience for passengers”.

“We share government’s ambitions for resolving the travel issues that we’ve seen in previous months.  These actions will help the sector to be more resilient in dealing with strong consumer demand,” he said.