A business minister has a suggestion for airline staff troubled by the current airport chaos: work longer hours.

The aviation industry is suffering from staff shortages after letting thousands of people go during the coronavirus pandemic.

Business minister Paul Scully said there were 1.3 million vacancies across the country in various sectors but there are also “people who have recalibrated what they want to do when they were on furlough”.

He told Sky News: “We want to make sure that those people that are not necessarily working full time, through Universal Credit we can get them back in to work to be more productive, if that suits them, and obviously match them up with the sectors where there are those vacancies.”

When asked whether this meant people working longer hours, he said: “I’m not talking about going out forcing people to do anything, but we just want to make sure that they’re matched up properly so that it’s just that those people who can work longer – that want to work longer – can do.”

EasyJet said it was “reviewing the details” of Gatwick’s summer flight cap but insisted it expected to be able to “reaccommodate the majority” of passengers should their flight be affected.

Passengers of the budget airline will bear the brunt of the cancellations in July and August, when the maximum number of monthly departures per airline from Britain’s second-busiest airport will be cut to 825 and 850 respectively.

An easyJet spokesman said the airline expected to be able to put majority of affected customers onto different flights.

The airline’s statement in full read: “We are aware of the capacity cap announced by Gatwick Airport and are now reviewing the details to assess what this means for easyJet’s Gatwick operation.

“We recognise the need for Gatwick Airport to do this, as airports across Europe have visibility across all airlines and are well placed to decide what capacity is realistic in the current challenging operating environment so all airlines can provide reliable services for their customers.

“Given the high frequencies of our services to and from Gatwick, we expect to be able to reaccommodate the majority of customers should their flight be affected by the cap.”

Short-notice cancellations have eased at London Gatwick, but the departure screens are showing some long delays.

Afternoon and evening flights experiencing delays of three hours or more include:

• British Airways to Cagliari
• easyJet to Kos, Athens
• Wizz Air to Tel Aviv

Many passengers are arriving well behind schedule, including British Airways from Cancun (five hours late) and easyJet from Nantes (two hours).

But the overnight arrivals from Spain, Turkey and Mauritius are on schedule.

In today’s travel podcast for The Independent, from Gatwick airport, Simon Calder explains why he believes the cancellation order from the UK’s second-busiest airport is a positive move.

While it’s a real pain for the 5 per cent of travellers who will need to rearrange their travel, it enhances the chances of the other 95 per cent having a relatively stress-free trip. Harsh, but effective (the announcement, not Simon).

“Gatwick has come out and done pretty much the right thing - which is to say to the airlines, come on chaps, you haven’t been able to deliver what you promised you would, so we are going to require you to cut back on your flights.”

Listen to today’s episode here:

Earlier this week, a reader asked me: “Is BA cancelling flights at short notice? We’re flying to Iceland on Sunday, and they cancelled the return flight a few weeks ago so I rebooked for the flight on the following day.”

British Airways has cancelled many thousands of flights this summer – the airline says almost 20,000, which works out as about 100 per day. Unlike other carriers, almost all of the cancellations are being announced – as in your case – some weeks ahead.

Of course there will always be on-the-day disruption, and in any summer a couple of flights from a big airline like BA may be cancelled, but I would give you good odds that the flight will go ahead without a problem.

Of course if you are unfortunately grounded at short notice, then you can look at alternatives such as the excellent Icelandair to get you to Reykjavík.

Read on for five more burning travel questions about this summer’s flight cancellations:

The only confirmed strikes announced by airline staff are those by its Spanish crew, set to take place on 24, 25, 26 and 30 June, as well as on 1-2 July.

Spain’s USO and SITCPLA unions agreed to the industrial action following a dispute over pay and working conditions. It follows the walk-outs by French staff for the airline on 12 and 13 June.

In a joint statement, the two Spanish unions said that Ryanair has made few improvements to working conditions despite several attempts at mediation.

A Ryanair spokesperson has said: “Ryanair has negotiated collective agreements covering 90 per cent of our people across Europe. In recent months we have been negotiating improvements to those agreements as we work through the Covid recovery phase.

“Those negotiations are going well and we do not expect widespread disruption this summer.”

A Downing Street spokesperson said on Friday that the government welcomed Gatwick’s announcement that it will cap the number of flights it handles during June and July, with a spokesman saying the move will “provide certainty for passengers ahead of time”.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, the chief executive of Advantage Travel Partnership - which represents travel firms - also praised the move, calling it a “proactive” strategy.

“Gatwick’s decision to cap flights for July and August provides a proactive solution to addressing some of the challenging scenes we saw over the course of May half-term, ahead of a busy summer season in July and August,” she told the BBC.

“It’s important to note that in the vast number of cases travellers are travelling as planned with no disruption and most flights will not be cancelled due to this cap.

“By imposing this flight cap on departures from Gatwick in advance of the summer season it reduces the risk of any last-minute disruptions and remains the duty of airlines to communicate any changes in good time.

“I am confident that everyone across the travel ecosystem is working very hard to support their customers and provide the best possible service for anyone travelling this summer.”

“Certainty is what we all need and what we are desperately trying to do now in rebuilding the industry is to make sure we can give certainty back to customers,” added Ms Bue-Said.

Following Gatwick Airport’s announcement that it will cap the number of flights it handles during June and July, easyJet told the BBC it was “aware” of the announcement by Gatwick Airport and was “reviewing the details”.

“We expect to be able to re-accommodate the majority of customers should their flight be affected by the cap,” it said.

The spokesperson also voiced their support for the airport, saying: “We recognise the need for Gatwick Airport to do this... so all airlines can provide reliable services for their customers.”

In contrast, Ryanair said it “did not have any plans to cancel flights from Gatwick”, adding: “Gatwick should be looking to the airlines who are already making mass cancellations across the UK for these cuts.”

Wizz Air and Tui, which both fly from Gatwick, have yet to comment on the capacity caps.

Your consumer rights vary depending on whether your flight was cancelled by the airline more or fewer than 14 days before your day of travel - and whether the airline is blaming “extraordinary circumstances” for the cancellation (a relatively rare circumstance).

If your flight was due to leave within 14 days of you receiving the cancellation notice, your airline owes you compensation (between £220 and £350 depending on the distance your flight covers).

Your airline should also get you to your destination on the same day of travel - either on its own next flight, or with a rival carrier if there is no availability. You can also opt to receive a full refund.

If your flight is cancelled more than 14 days in advance, you are entitled to a full refund.

Here is a full breakdown of your consumer rights when faced with a cancellation:

The cull of flights at Gatwick airport – which could ground as many as 50 on busy days in peak summer – is initially being handled by Airport Coordination Ltd (ACL), the body that assigns take-off and landing “slots” at Gatwick and other hubs.

As by far the biggest carrier at Gatwick, easyJet (and its long-suffering passengers) will bear the brunt of the cancelled flights, with British Airways, Wizz Air, Vueling and Tui also expected to ground departures.

Smaller airlines with no more than a handful of flights each day will not be expected to cancel. While ACL will specify the number of departures and arrivals that must be cut each day, it is entirely up to the airlines to decide which routes to cut.

I am sure the carriers are already studying their schedules carefully, to see which flights could be cancelled with minimum impact on passengers and revenue.

They will want to get notice out to affected travellers as soon as possible, in order to maximise the time to make other arrangements.

It may be that they decide to stagger the procedure – for example by making progressive cancellations first for early July, the for late July, early August and late August.