As one Easter weekend travel disruption is called off, another looms. A return to 100% passport checks at the borders when staff numbers have been cut will cause gridlock over the weekend claim some airlines.

The British Air Transport Association (BATA) has written to Home Secretary Theresa May on behalf of eleven major airlines including Virgin, BMI, Easyjet and British Airways to express concern over the situation.

According the the Daily Mail, Virgin has sent a separate memo saying airport operation will be at risk as delayed passengers fill airport terminals.

The memo said: “At peak travel periods, such as the Easter holidays, there is a very real chance of gridlock at UK airports.

“The UK Border Force has been streamlined in recent years with 25 per cent fewer border officers and an increasing emphasis on technology such as passenger e-gates. We fear that this level of resource is incompatible with a return to 100 per cent checks and if left unaddressed will cause congestion at UK airports.”

A UK Border Force spokesman said: “We’re working with airlines to ensure security is maintained and disruption is minimised. There is no evidence that there is going to be disruption.”

Hundreds of thousands of people were allowed to enter the UK last month without being checked against a Home Office watch list.

A US pilot appeared to suffer a mental breakdown during a JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas earlier in the week.

Captain Clayton Osbon reportedly ran through the isles of the plane ranting about a bomb threat, Iraq, Afghanistan and al-Qaida before being taken to the back of the plane to be calmed down by cabin crew. When he attempted to re-enter the locked cockpit, he was pinned down by four passengers until the plane was safely landed in Texas.

An off-duty pilot who happened to be a passenger on board helped the co-pilot to land the plane safely.

One news report said Mr Osbon shouted: “They’re going to take us down. They’re taking us down. They’re going to take us down. Say the Lord’s prayer.”

The airline issued a statement to say that there had been a “medical situation” involving the captain, who has since been taken to hospital.

Chief executive of JetBlue, David Barger, told NBC News that there was nothing in Mr Osbon’s records that suggested he could be a risk. He told reporters: ”I’ve known the captain personally for a long period of time and there’s been no indication of this at all.”

The pilot has now been charged with interfering with cabin crew, while the FBI coordinates an investigation with the airport police, Amarillo police, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Safety Administration.

Easyjet is to begin charging passengers to reserve specific seats for the first time from April this year. The charges are £8 for rows two to eight, £12 for extra legroom seats and £3 for the rest. The airline insists that this is not to make more money, but to take the stress out of boarding.

Chief Executive Carolyn McCall told The Times that the airline has spent £5m on the new seat reservation computer system to “take the stress out of boarding.”

She admitted that she didn’t expect the majority of passengers to take up the new option, and that most of those who did not pay the extra will still be able to sit with their travelling companions.

The first destinations to offer the service include Sharm-el-Sheikh, Istanbul, Malaga and Alicante. The airline will email passengers booked on flights to these destinations to give them to option of paying for reserved seating.

You would think that you would feel safe from robbery on a plane, but unfortunately this is untrue for a flight from Jakarta to Singapore on Sunday.

According to the Straits Times, two Chinese nationals are alleged to have attempted to steal from sleeping passengers carry-on luggage. The pair rifled through bags stowed in overhead cabins, in one case they found US$5,000 in a laptop bag.

They were caught in the act by a crew member on the Singapore Airlines flight, and once they landed in Changi Airport, police were there to make the arrests.

According to the newspaper, there have been several incidents such as this in the last month. Police, airlines and crew have been alerted.

The run up to the Easter holidays are going to be problematic for travellers going abroad to Europe. Strikes at airports in Germany, Italy and Spain are likely to cause severe disruption all this week.

Lufthansa had to cancel dozens of flights today, including services between London and Frankfurt as ground handlers at German airports went on strike this morning.

Easyjet were also affected as it cancelled a flight between Luton and Schonefeld and warned passengers travelling from Berlin to London to travel with carry-on luggage only, if possible. British Airways advised passengers to check their flight’s status before going to the airport. BA also advised passengers travelling to Milan to do the same as there are also strikes at Milan airports.

There is a general strike in Spain on Thursday which is likely to lead to widespread delays and cancellations.  BA is giving passengers the option of re-booking to travel today, tomorrow or on 3rd-6th April inclusive. Easyjet and Ryanair have advised passengers to get the latest information on their websites  as the situation develops.

Cash-strapped Indian airline Kingfisher will suspend international operations to eight overseas cities, including London Heathrow, as well as reducing domestic flights on 10th April.

Earlier this month British Airways announced that it was suspending its codesharing agreement with the airline, but had refused to comment fully on its reasons.

The suspension of these operations are to give Kingfisher Airlines time to come up with a rescue plan.

India’s aviation authorities have decided not to suspend the airline’s licence following a meeting with the owner Vijay Mallya, but are continuing to monitor the situation. However, India’s aviation minister appeared doubtful when he spoke to reporters in New Delhi yesterday: ”The problem is in the last two to three months, he’s given so many plans and he’s not adhered to any of them.”

The level of debt run up by the airline is believed to be £900m, and since banks have refused to lend it more money it has been struggling to keep flying. Kingfisher will tackle this by reducing its domestic operation to no more than 125 flights a day, less than half the number in October. Mallya admitted that this was only “a holding plan”.

The news provoked a 5.5% fall in Kingfisher shares, their lowest level since it began trading. This is good news for rival airlines Jet Airways and IndiGo as they increase their market share and pricing power.

Ryanair is being investigated by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) over concerns that emergency exit seats have been left empty after it introduced an extra £10 charge for passengers to sit there.

The seats provide extra leg room, which is popular with many customers, but this extra room is primarily for the exit doors in the case of an emergency, and anyone who sits there is expected to follow directions and, if necessary, open the doors in the event of an emergency.

The extra charge has meant that these rows have been known to be left empty on take off, with passengers on surrounding seats asked to familiarise themselves with the evacuation procedure. Some passengers expressed doubts about being able to fully understand the instructions without sitting next to the exit itself.

This has also raised health and safety concerns from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA), who are keeping a watch on the situation.

A spokesperson from the CAA said: ”Our guidance to UK-registered airlines is that whoever is sitting next to the emergency exit must be briefed about what to do. If that person says they are not willing to do it, then someone else must be found who is happy with that role.”

He added: “It’s an important task. It’s not easy to open the doors and they must be physically strong enough to throw them from the plane.”

A spokesman for Ryanair said it will cooperate with the IAA, but also added: “Ryanair complies with all mandatory safety directives. All passengers are provided with the same safety and evacuation information.”

(Please note that there are other airlines registered in Britain which also charge passengers extra to sit next to the emergency exit.)

Easter travel plans could be disrupted if baggage handlers vote for strike action next week. The GMB union is balloting 150 members employed by Swissport at Stansted Airport over changes to working patterns.

GMB says the changes will require baggage handlers to travel an additional 13 times a year to work, which will increase transport and childcare costs. The imposed changes to shift patterns will cost on average of £1,000 per year for each worker, claims the union.

GMB organiser Gary Pearce said: “The GMB shop stewards have been meeting with Swissport since January. GMB has offered several alternative shift patterns and working arrangements but the company refuses to listen.

“The company is intent on imposing these changes without agreement and this is completely unacceptable.”

Swissport handles 11 airlines at Stansted, including Monarch, Ryanair and Thomson Airways.

“Swissport claim they have lost work on the Ryanair contact at the airport. GMB baggage handlers have seen no evidence of this,” said Pearce.

He added that Swissport have also claimed that they are losing money on the contract, but they have failed to give GMB evidence to confirm this, leading members to question whether it is true.

The results of the ballot will be announced next week on 29th March. If the result is in favour of a strike then it looks likely to happen over the Easter weekend.

So far there have been no statements issued by Swissport.

India’s Kingfisher airlines is in financial difficultly, and on 9th March British Airways suspended its codesharing agreement with the airline.

Christopher Fordyce, regional commercial manager for south Asia at British Airways, simply said that Kingfisher Airlines is “undergoing a financial restructure” and would not elaborate further on the reasons for the codeshare suspension.

Kingfisher Airlines is now looking to find ways to cut costs and strip back its overseas flights as it attempts to attract funding from investors. It has already asked the Indian government to relax rules on foreign ownership in order to help with a potential rescue package.

Iberia photo by Flickr user Andres Rueda

24 new strikes dates over March, April and May have been announced by Iberia’s pilots union.

This is the latest industrial action in a dispute with parent company International Airlines Group over its plans to create Iberia Express, a new budget airline due to launch on 25th March.

The strike dates will be: 16, 19, 23, 25, 26 and 30th March, 2, 4, 9, 13, 16, 20, 23, 27 and 30th April, and 2, 4, 7, 11, 14, 18, 21, 25 and 28th May. Flights by Air Nostrum, Vueling and those under code shares will not be affected.

Iberia has expressed regret for any inconvenience the action will cause and will notify customers of cancelled flights and offer alternatives (where possible) as soon as it can. There will also be procedures for changing tickets or obtaining refunds put in place.

The airline said: “Iberia regards this strike call by SEPLA as an intolerable challenge to the company and to Spanish society at large, given the highly negative economic and social impact not only on the airline and its employees, but also on the travel and tourism industry as a whole, and on Spain’s reputation for credibility and solvency.

“The company appeals to its pilots, and particularly those who do not support the union’s suicidal position, to abort this strike and return to the table to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement.”

It has been reported by the Wall Street Journal online that the Spanish government is mediating the dispute as it will impact on the high season of tourism during Holy Week in April if the strikes go ahead.