British Airways cancels 78 more Heathrow flights after Covid surge
Coronavirus-related staff shortages are causing havoc in the aviation industry.
British Airways has cancelled 78 flights scheduled to or from Heathrow Airport today as Covid-related staff shortages wreak havoc on the industry.
The total includes flights axed due to last month’s decision by the airline to reduce its schedule until the end of May to boost reliability.
It also covers routes suspended for several months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Not only are airlines struggling with too many workers off sick amid a recent spike of Covid cases, they are also dealing with job cuts made earlier during the pandemic.
More than 1,000 flights across the country have been axed last week, with chaos set to continue at major airports during the Easter holidays.
Frustrated travellers told Metro.co.uk how airports have been left in ‘complete disarray’, with overstretched staff trying to cope with ‘no leadership, direction or management’.
People have been left queuing for up to five hours, while others have been stranded in foreign cities due to planes landing too late for them to make connecting flights.
One passenger told how the situation was so bad at Manchester Airport, that the check-in and security queues ended up merging, with the city’s Mayor Andy Burnham calling for police to intervene.
Aviation data firm Cirium said 1,143 UK flights were cancelled last week, compared with just 197 during the same period in 2019.
The vast majority of last week’s cancellations were by easyJet and British Airways.
The rate of staff absences at easyJet is around double normal levels. Airport bosses have urged passengers to arrive for flights as early as possible.
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