Why are airlines cancelling flights? | The Sun

JUST when you think that you're getting the holiday that you deserve, you're notified that your flight has been cancelled.

Ryanair, British Airways, EasyJet and other airlines are all cancelling flights, mostly last minute, and this results in long queues for long hours piling up across British airports.

Why are airlines cancelling flights?

It is a perfect storm of issues, including staffing problems, IT glitches, runway works and air traffic restrictions.

Both airlines and airports were haemorrhaging cash over the course of the pandemic, as Brits were put off foreign holidays thanks to either travel bans, the threat of quarantine or the ever-changing government travel traffic light system.

That meant staff had to be laid off, with many inevitably finding another career that they have no intention of returning from.

For airports and airlines looking to recruit new staff, the process is more complicated than in a normal occupation due to safety issues.

They have to go through counter-terror checks by the government in order to start the job, which has taken longer than usual thanks to the overwhelming numbers of staff being recruited.

Then there's the cabin crew – there needs to be one flight attendant per 50 seats on planes with more than 19 seats.

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There are also still large numbers of people catching Covid, which means staff have had to call in sick – throwing timetables into disarray.

Another issue is airlines being short of cash and have their finances plummet.

This resulted in pay disagreements with their employees and staff such as that of Ryanair decided to strike for a period of time in July – a time in which many leave for holidays.

The Government even went as far to warn travellers not to visit Spain because of such staff issues.

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Which airlines have cancelled flights?

Thousands of flights have been cancelled in recent weeks, affecting tens of thousands of passengers.

While lots of airlines have been affected by the travel chaos, many are pre-cancelling many of their flights to try and avoid last-minute problems.

EasyJet

EasyJet have cancelled a handful of flights over the weeks, mostly to places in Spain such as Malaga and Madrid.

The company has though cancelled flights to other top holiday destinations such as Greece, Malta, Italy and France.

EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren confirmed that there are several factors affecting its employees.

They have to get security checks, and the implementation of Brexit meant the Europeans could not move to the UK freely to work and the longs the process of EU workers getting their checks approved to start their jobs at EasyJet.

British Airways

British Airways has been cancelling a lot of flights throughout the year to popular destinations.

It has cancelled flights to destinations such as London, Dublin, Belfast, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and New York.

After confirming 17,600 cancellations in April, the airline confirmed a further 10,300 short-haul cancellations.

All passengers will be able to get a full refund or rebook with BA or an alternative airline.

Ryanair

Ryanair cabin crew confirmed that they will be going on strike across 10 airports in Spain and this caused many disruptions for UK travellers.

The USO and SICTPLA union confirmed that there will be strikes from Monday 18 to Thursday 21 and from Monday 25 to Thursday 28.

The airline said that it expects "minimal (if any) disruption to its flight schedules in July as a result of minor and poorly-supported Spanish labour strikes."

They added: "Less than one per cent of Ryanair's flights have been affected in the past month by recent minor and poorly supported cabin crew strikes called by unions who either not recognised by or who represent tiny number of Ryanair crews."

Jet2

Jet2 have scrapped flights to Amsterdam from Birmingham and Leeds for July and August and also decided to cancel some flights to and from Jersey.

Flights from Manchester, Birmingham and London Stansted were also being reduced or suspended.

Unlike other airlines, Jet2 are cancelling flights as a recent review of its schedule and not because of the travel chaos.

When will normal flight service resume?

The Aviation minister Robert Courts announced he would be relaxing the vetting process last month to ease the pressure, allowing airports and airlines to train staff before the checks had been finished.

But that hasn't solved the problem as staff can't work airside – where the planes are – until they have been approved.

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That affects everything from baggage control to air traffic control and airport security.

However, there is no time frame for when flights will be back to normal, although it is hoped it will calm down after the half term rush.

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