Airline chief slams Boris Johnson’s Covid‑19 response as a joke.

When Airlines Throw a Hula‑Hoop at the UK Pandemic Response

During the Paris Air Forum on Tuesday (June 7), Willie Walsh, the high‑flying director‑general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), turned the spotlight on London’s political leaders. He didn’t hold back, blasting the British politicians for complaining about airport queues and flights being cancelled just because COVID cases were falling. In the same breath, he fired a shot straight at Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his own handling of the crisis.

Walsh’s Shout‑Out

“When you look at UK, Boris Johnson, he’s saying the pandemic is the reason he should keep the job. What a joke. They should have done a hell of a lot better,” he declared, sipping his coffee as the audience leaned in.

What the UK Says Back

The Department for Transport deflected with a quick retort: the UK was the first G7 country to lift all travel restrictions. “We prioritized public health and the measures we introduced bought vital time for the rollout of our successful vaccine programme,” the spokesperson explained.

Cabinet Sound‑Offs

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told airlines to stop selling tickets where crews couldn’t be found.
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab told Sky News that airlines should have hired more staff than they did.

Both shenanigans came from Johnson’s own Cabinet, after the Prime Minister survived a confidence vote on Monday.

Why the Airlines Are Off‑Balance

Walsh argued that earlier in the year British airlines couldn’t pull up the needed crew because traffic was down and the looming threat of new COVID rules loomed large. The industry’s nerve has been tested, and now the airlines are railing against what they see as a double‑standard in policy and its timing.

In short, the skies over London are a bit stormier than the governments have let on. The airports are packed, the seats are being filled, and the jokes keep flying—just like the planes themselves.

Airline CEOs Keep Calm—and Hold the Sirens

When the airlines were hit by the COVID storm, some politicians were quick to say they should have pushed the industry harder to recover faster. Former BAA and IAG chief Graeme Walsh took a different tack:

“You should’ve let the airlines go bankrupt,” Walsh says

“No,” he counters, “Airlines would have burned their own business if they’d followed those frantic, slice‑and‑dice policies. The advice was too messy for the market to handle.”

Walsh defended the government’s £8 billion aid (S$13.8 bn) as a needed lifeline but urged airlines to beef up hiring to keep the bottlenecks flat. He called the sudden travel rush a “snapback” that left major airports—London, Amsterdam, Dublin, and Toronto—widening the queue for a new flight crew, while the planes spun out the “especially unhappy” passengers.

What Went Wrong?

Airlines faced slow clearance for staff and jets.
Airport managers considered hiring in a frenzy, but the vats of applicants were not as plentiful as the long lines.
Government posed tight travel restrictions; Walsh says it did very little to fight the virus, instead keeping the industry in a chokehold.

He acknowledges the congestion is high at a handful of airports and for some airlines, but nevertheless, he remains confident airlines can manage the current chaos—personalizing the problem as a “short‑term hiccup.”

Past Example: UK’s “Decisive” Vote

Just like Boris Johnson’s 59‑per‑cent win last year—political bullseyes that felt decided—Walsh posits that an equally decisive move from airlines could surf through COVID’s leftover turbulence.

Airline chief slams Boris Johnson’s Covid‑19 response as a joke.