The Transport Secretary has rejected a request from the airline industry to recruit workers from abroad, the BBC has been told.
Businesses asked for special immigrant visas for foreign workers at a meeting with Grant Shapps on Wednesday.
Thousands of holidaymakers have had their travel plans disrupted this week after flight cancellations and airport delays.
The reason for this is the understaffing in the industry, say experts.
The half-term break and bank holiday anniversary weekend is the first major test the industry has faced since all Covid travel restrictions were lifted in March. According to aeronautical data company Cirium, almost 27,000 flights are planned from the UK between May 27 and June 5.
However, the industry is struggling to recruit staff to replace workers who lost their jobs or left the sector during Covid. It has resulted in long queues at airports to get through security, check in luggage, or baggage claim delays.
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Passengers are advised to take only one piece of carry-on baggage on holiday and not to check any baggage to avoid delays.
The GMB union, which represents aviation workers, said if people don’t check baggage “it limits disruption”. Paul Charles, managing director of travel consultancy PC Agency, said: “The smaller the bag, the less time you spend in security queues.
Industry bosses suggested to Mr Shapps that one possible solution would be to allow EU workers to fill the large number of vacancies at the plant as the travel industry approaches the peak summer holidays in July and August.
Executives questioned why some creative industries are eligible for special visas and aviation is not.
Ministers are understood to have scrapped the idea and instead set up a working group ahead of the summer holidays “to work on common concerns together”.
Steve Heapy, chief executive of vacation company Jet2, blamed Brexit for the staff shortage.
“Brexit has taken hundreds of thousands if not millions of people out of the labor market and that is undoubtedly having an impact,” he told the BBC.
Before Covid, airports and airlines across the UK employed around 140,000 people, according to industry body Airlines UK.
British airlines alone have laid off more than 30,000 employees in the last two years.
The UK job market is currently at a record level of vacancies and the lowest unemployment rate in almost 50 years.
The Department of Transport has been asked for comment.
Flights departing Thursday appear to have done so without major incident at Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester.
While passengers on social media have once again reported long queues in Manchester, there has been no sign of cancellations.
Tui said all its flights are now operating as usual after a difficult week for Britain’s biggest tour operator.
It canceled six flights a day from Manchester for the whole of June to limit the impact of staffing levels at Swissport, which provides ground services for Tui.
BA and easyJet have also canceled flights but have been able to update passengers on the changes.
According to Tui, 80% of those whose flights were canceled have now rebooked after some of its shops were open until midnight to allow passengers to find alternatives.
A special analysis prepared for the BBC shows that 2,746 flights depart from the UK today – equivalent to 479,383 seats available. Amsterdam, Dublin and Mallorca are the top destinations.
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