Yep, several months later, all the crap at British airports is still happening. And the shitshow’s latest instalment comes via British Airways, which has just cancelled another 1,000 flights from London airports Heathrow and Gatwick throughout prime summer holiday season.
The cancellations will affect around 100,000 travellers in total, including those travelling to popular holiday destinations like Palma, Majorca and Faro. BA says it is mainly cutting routes with several daily departures, thereby giving customers with cancelled flights the chance to catch a different same-day flight.
This isn’t the first batch of cancellations that BA has announced for the summer holiday period. Back in April, the UK national carrier announced that it would be cutting 10 percent of all its flights until October. And things could get even worse: on top of all that, the airline’s ground staff at Heathrow could go on strike this summer in disputes over a pandemic pay cut.
While BA has been pretty much at the centre of the UK’s months of airport chaos, it isn’t the only airline that has been responsible for flight delays and cancellations. The likes of EasyJet and Tui have also seen their fair share, with EasyJet’s chief operating officer recently quitting over the disorder.
So why is the airport bedlam dragging on so long? Well, the disruption has mainly been caused by the fact that airlines and airports made so many staff redundant during the pandemic. For months now, they haven’t been able to cope with the resurgence in demand for air travel and, to make matters worse, due to security clearance it takes longer than usual to hire people in the aviation industry.
So if you’ve booked a flight with British Airways in the coming months, we suggest keeping regular tabs on its status to see if it’s been cancelled. And, of course, if you haven’t booked your summer hol flights yet, we reckon it’s probs best to seriously think twice about choosing BA – at least for the time being.
ICYMI: British Airways staff at Heathrow are set to go on strike this summer.
Plus: here are 10 ways to make sure you avoid holiday hell this summer.