“These irresponsible actions resulted in thousands of unnecessary cancellations in March,” said Walsh, who has been at helm as director general of Iata for almost three years. “This is unacceptable and should not be tolerated by the authorities.”
Walsh is the latest in a series of aviation bosses, including Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary, to criticise the ongoing industrial tensions.
Aviation workers across Europe have gone on strike several times over the past few months over jobs and salaries, creating disruption for hundreds of thousands of travellers.
French air traffic controllers have downed tools 52 times in the past four months over president Macron’s decision to increase the pension age from 62 to 64, impacting more than 730,000 travellers.
Industrial action has also affected the likes of Italy, Spain and Portugal while UK security officers at main airports such as Heathrow walked out over pay and jobs in the run-up to Easter.
Disruption at the London hub is set to continue throughout the month, with workers downing tools between Thursday and Saturday, as well as between 9-10 and 25-27 May.
Elsewhere, the union Unite is balloting workers at Edinburgh, while warning of a summer of discontent at Glasgow too.
Despite the ongoing tensions in Europe, demand seems to be back almost to pre-pandemic levels. Data published on Thursday by Iata show that total traffic has risen 52.4% in March to 88% of pre-pandemic levels. Both domestic and international travel have surged significantly, going up by 34.1% and 68.9% compared to 2022 levels.
“This was led by a near-tripling of demand for Asia-Pacific carriers as China’s reopening took hold,” Walsh, a former chief executive of IAG, added.
