British Airways and easyJet have cancelled a total of more than 100 flights every day during the Easter school holidays.
08 April 2022
Airlines have been urged by the aviation regulator to set “deliverable” schedules after thousands of UK flights were cancelled in recent days due to staff shortages.
Civil Aviation Authority chief executive Richard Moriarty warned that late-notice cancellations and excessive delays are “not just distressing for affected consumers but have the potential to impact confidence levels across the industry”.
In a letter to airlines, he acknowledged that many are in the process of recruiting large numbers of staff but “it is clear that this has not always happened sufficiently quickly to cope with the increased passenger travel in recent days”.
He wrote on: “Given the consequences for passengers of cancelled and disrupted journeys, I encourage you to do all you can to ensure that you have the necessary level of appropriately-trained and cleared staff resources in place.”
It is “very important” that airlines are setting schedules “on a basis that is deliverable given available staff (including contractors), and has resilience for staff sickness, including from Covid”, Mr Moriarty added.
British Airways and easyJet have recently cancelled a total of more than 100 daily flights.
This has been blamed on a combination of coronavirus-related staff sickness and recruitment difficulties.
