THREE quarters of aviation workers have been physically or verbally abused at work, the GMB union said today.

And the general union’s poll of hundreds of its members at airports and airlines shows that two thirds feel the abuse has had a detrimental impact on their mental health.

The workers, made up of check-in staff, baggage handlers, security workers, cabin crew and others, describe being spat at and suffering homophobic abuse from frustrated passengers as travel chaos continues.

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled in recent weeks as massively understaffed airports and airlines struggle to meet soaring demand during the first spring without Covid-19 restrictions since 2019.

Thousands of staff, who had warned about years of deteriorating pay and working conditions in the sector before the crisis, have quit the industry since 2020. 

Working conditions for those that remain are “impossible,” argued the union, which added that travellers also face a stressful experience. 

GMB national officer Nadine Houghton slammed the “devastating and totally unacceptable” survey results.

She said: “GMB members are doing their best as they deal with a crisis that is entirely of airlines’ own making.

“Mass staff shortages are making their jobs — and people’s holidays — impossible.

“Airlines need to listen to workers and pay a wage that means they can live through the cost-of-living crisis.

“Then maybe they’d have enough staff to get people away on their holidays without frustration and delays.”

The union’s poll revealed that nearly 90 per cent of workers in the sector are experiencing staffing shortages on a daily basis. 

Almost nine in 10 — 86 per cent — feel that management have no plan to deal with the crisis, while almost the same amount think the situation will get worse before it gets better.

And almost half say they are struggling to pay the bills and keep a roof over their heads as the consumer prices index inflation rate soars to 9 per cent, a peak not seen since 1982. 

Tory Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has claimed that travel firms have “seriously oversold flights and holidays relative to their capacity to deliver.”

But his Labour counterpart Louise Haigh has called for action, accusing the government of being “missing in action” during the crisis.