Minister was warned staff crisis would lead to ‘inevitable’ travel chaos, says aviation union

Call predicted airlines would fail to cope with huge demand as hostilities between government and industry deepen over appeal for special visas for EU workers

The aviation minister was warned at the start of the year that the widespread flight chaos witnessed last week was inevitable" and government intervention was urgently required to prevent such disruption, union sources say.

During a telephone call with aviation unions in late January, Robert Courts was told that the industry wouldn't be able to cope with high demand unless it received help to offset chronic staff shortages.