Thousands stranded as bad weather and air traffic control shortages force flight cancellations
More than 10,000 passengers have been hit by flight cancellations at UK airports because of bad weather and air traffic control staff shortages in Europe.
At least 125 scheduled flights were grounded on Sunday and Monday, including 82 British Airways flights to and from Heathrow.
Several airlines also cancelled flights to and from Gatwick. The worst affected airline was easyJet, with 34 flights grounded on Sunday and at least nine on Monday.
Airlines blamed “adverse weather” and “traffic control delays” for the grounded flights, which could see thousands of holidaymakers uncompensated as these causes of disruption are usually deemed to be outside airlines’ control.
Ongoing staff shortages across Europe are thought to be behind the air traffic control (ATC) restrictions, with the number of workers in the sector first falling during the pandemic.
It is the not the first time the dwindling workforce has sparked tension between the industry and the airlines – with a Ryanair spokesperson claiming ATC services were continuing to “underperform”.
While passengers are unlikely to receive refunds, they could be entitled to assistance – this could include refreshments, overnight accommodation and rebooking with alternative carriers.
The weather caused two British Airways planes being taken out of service for safety checks on Sunday after they were struck by lightning.
In a message on its website, Ryanair said: “ATC services, which have had the benefit of no French ATC strike disruption this summer, continue to underperform (despite flight volumes being 5 per cent behind 2019 levels) with repeated ‘staff shortages’.
“On Monday 8 July, 21 per cent of Ryanair’s first wave departures (134 of 579 aircraft) were delayed due to ATC ‘staff shortages’.
“These repeated flight delays due to ATC mismanagement are unacceptable.
“We apologise to our passengers for these repeated ATC flight delays which are deeply regrettable but beyond Ryanair’s control.”
A British Airways spokesperson said: “Due to Air traffic control restrictions and adverse weather, like other airlines we’ve had to make a small number of alterations to our schedule.
“We know this will be frustrating for our customers and our teams are working hard to get them on to alternative flights as soon as possible, with the vast majority already booked onto services that will fly later today.”
An easyJet spokesperson said: “EasyJet operated around 1,800 flights [on Sunday] and is operating a similar number today [Monday], however, some flights yesterday evening and three flights from London Gatwick this morning have unfortunately been disrupted due to the knock-on impact of adverse weather and air traffic control delays.
“While this is outside of our control, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused and are providing impacted customers with hotel accommodation and meals as well as a refund or a transfer to an alternative flight.”
