EasyJet has reduced its flight schedule for the rest of June in an effort to overcome the travel chaos seen in the school holidays when staff shortages meant thousands of people were hit by last-minute cancellations.
Britain’s biggest carrier has come under fire for its handling of the disruption which also saw passengers endure long delays. In a message to staff on Friday, its chief operating officer, Peter Bellew, said the carrier was making pre-emptive cancellations for the “coming days and weeks” to “increase resilience across the network”.
The aviation industry has struggled to cope with the huge bounce back in demand for flights and holidays following the lifting of Covid travel restrictions. This is blamed on depleted staffing levels both in the air and on the ground as thousands of workers either lost their jobs or found new roles with other companies during the pandemic.
The recent 11th-hour cancellations made by easyJet have been contrasted with the more decisive action taken by the likes of British Airways which back in May cut a 10th of its flight schedules until October – the equivalent of 8,000 round trips – after struggling over Easter.
“Due to the ongoing impact of the challenging operating environment on our daily operations, we have made a small proportion of additional advance flight cancellations for June,” said an easyJet spokesperson, who said 40 flights a day to-and-from the UK, out of a total of around 1,700, were affected. “We are very sorry for the inconvenience this will cause.”
“We are informing customers in advance to minimise the impact on their plans and provide the option to rebook before travelling or receive a refund, and our customer service hours have been extended to support affected customers,” the spokesperson added. “We continue to monitor the operation closely and take action in advance as needed.”
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