A stretched travel industry equals stressed-out travellers

It’s only May but the long-suffering travel industry and its equally pressed customers are enduring the kind of chaos you might expect at the height of summer, writes Simon Calder

Tens of thousands of passengers have been left stranded due to short-notice cancellations by easyJet this week (Getty)

And relax: those stories of months-long passport renewals are nonsense. We know that because the prime minister told the House of Commons on Wednesday, in a little-noticed exchange, that: “Everybody’s getting their passport within four to six weeks.”

How did that happen, then? Boris Johnson revealed: “We’re massively increasing the speed with which the Passport Office delivers.” But – and I know you will find this hard to believe – the prime minister was mistaken.

A government spokesperson later told me: “The latest figures show that over 90 per cent of applications have been completed within six weeks.” Which is not quite the same as “everybody”. The traditional waiting time for a straightforward passport renewal was three weeks prior to April 2022, at which point ministers began to warn holidaymakers to allow 10 weeks due to a surge in applications.