I’ve never known a half-term like this. There is plenty of blame to go around over travel chaos

There is one abiding characteristic of the industry of human happiness: travel is chronically over-optimistic, writes Simon Calder

An easyJet Airbus A320 at Gatwick airport, the airline’s biggest base (easyJet)

Never have I seen a half-term like it; easyJet cancelling 10 per cent of its Gatwick schedule because of staff shortage, while Tui passengers at Manchester airport found out from police that their long-awaited holidays had been cancelled.

Tui, which is Britain’s biggest holiday company says there is "ongoing disruption in our operation”; to try to avoid a repeat this coming weekend and for the month of June, it has abruptly axed 199 outbound flights – corresponding to 34,000 holidays.

The UK’s holiday firms, airlines and airports are now on the receiving end of heckles that are summed up as: “You spent two years complaining that you weren’t able to fly people on holiday, and then as soon as you’re able to do so, the whole operation goes Tango Uniform.” (The expression for an unravelling of aviation.)

Principle cheerleader is the government, that is desperately keen to point fingers at the aviation industry rather own up to its significant contribution to chaos: coming up with such absurd rules that MPs on the Transport Select Committee later described them as “inconsistent, confusing industry and passengers”.

A year ago, the 19-week ban on international leisure travel had just ended and the ludicrous “traffic light” system had begun, triggering airlifts from Portugal to Montenegro as ministers made decisions “not based on scientific consensus”.

But the travel industry must take some responsibility, too. British Airways and easyJet published summer schedules that they are simply unable to deliver with the resources available to them. BA, at least, is cancelling flights weeks ahead so that fewer people are disadvantaged. But promising flights that never materialise is anti-competitive: other carriers would love to use the slots at Heathrow and Gatwick respectively. More competition spells wider choice and lower fares, and has always been good for aviation. Both airlines reject accusations that they are simply trying to keep rivals out.

Tui, meanwhile, appears simply to have an optimism bias: hoping everything would go according to plan, even though experience shows that the capacity for disruption in international is infinite. That is a characteristic of the industry of human happiness: travel is chronically over-optimistic. Most of the time, it works out and people get the trips they need and deserve. But on occasion it goes very badly indeed. Now is such a time.