British Airways cancels more flights until SUMMER

BRITISH Airways is cancelling MORE flights due to staff shortages – and Brits will be affected until summer.

The airline confirmed last month that they would be reducing their schedule in advance to prevent last-minute cancellations.

2

However, this was initially expected to last until May – British Airways has since extended this until June, causing even more disruption for holidaymakers.

According to the Financial Times, the airline’s chief executive Sean Doyle told staff yesterday that flights would be trimmed until the end of June to “make its schedules more reliable”.

He said in a video message that they had scrapped the flights to give “customers confidence about their upcoming trips.”

While the BA bosses haven’t yet confirmed how many flights would be cut, it’s understood that they have chosen flights with low passenger numbers on routes that have multiple flights a day, in a bid to minimise disruption.

The move is reported to be due to shortage of cabin crew staff – something which is impacting a number of UK airlines.

A spokesperson told Sun Online Travel: “The past few weeks have been challenging and so we’re completely focused on three priorities: our customers, supporting the biggest recruitment drive in our history and increasing our operational resilience, to help provide certainty for our customers. 

“We’ve taken the decision to reduce our schedule by merging some low occupancy flights and flights to destinations with multiple services each day and using larger aircraft, giving customers the maximum flexibility to either rebook with us or another airline as close to their original departure time as possible, or to receive a full refund. “

BA has also cancelled a number of long haul routes across the summer.

The airline has cancelled UK flights to Miami, Hong Kong and Tokyo throughout the summer, with plans to scrap the routes for at least four months.

Airlines across the industry have been forced to cancel flights in recent months after struggling to rehire enough staff to cope with increased demand following the lifting of border restrictions.

Tight security checks needed for anyone working at airports are thought to be causing a delay in recruitment.

Mr Doyle told staff: “Everyone is recruiting for frontline roles and the referencing processes are taking too long for people to get clearance to work at airports.”

Both BA and easyJet have cancelled thousands of flights in the past month, with the CEO of Ryanair has warned that Brits should expect the travel chaos to continue for months.

Meanwhile, an airline employee has revealed the three things you should always do if your flight is cancelled.

2