This summer’s travelers will experience even more misery according to British Airways, which announced it will cancel an additional 10,300 flights through the end of October.
In addition to the thousands of flights already canceled by the troubled and prone to disruption airline, the latest batch of cancellations.
Short-haul services are the only ones affected by the most recent wave of cancellations, and CEO Sean Doyle says the goal is to combine calmer services on routes with several daily flights.
After having trouble filling positions with sufficient ground employees and cabin crew, British Airways has now reduced its anticipated summer schedule by 13%. If a BA flight is not available, the airline has committed to rebook and reroute affected passengers on other airlines.
The list of impacted flights might not be complete until Friday, the government’s deadline for a so-called “slot amnesty.” Airlines operate aircraft inside slots that grant takeoff and landing rights at busy airports like Heathrow.
Because they are expensive and in high demand, slots might be lost by an airline if they go unused. However, the UK government has permitted carriers to temporarily give up some slots until the end of the summer season in order to prevent the risk of an airline seeking to fly flights they have little possibility of actually being able to conduct.
On Wednesday, Doyle expressed his hope to the workforce that other airlines will reduce their Heathrow itineraries in order to ease the strain on the facility.
In order to concentrate workers in one location and better manage resources, British Airways will consolidate the vast majority of its Heathrow flights in the upcoming days out of Terminal 5.
Hundreds of check-in personnel continue to threaten to go on highly disruptive strike action, and Doyle has warned that British Airways is in for a “summer of discontent.”
“We took pre-emptive action earlier this year to reduce our summer schedule to provide customers with as much notice as possible about any changes to their travel plans, ” British Airways said in the statement.
“As the entire aviation industry continues to face the most challenging period in its history, regrettably it has become necessary to make some further reductions. […] We’re in touch with customers to apologize and offer to rebook them or issue a full refund,” the airline explained.
