EasyJet cancels 1,700 flights in summer hols – affecting 180,000 Brits

EasyJet has been forced to cancel 1,700 flights over the summer to prevent last-minute daily cancellations.

As many as 180,000 passengers are thought to have been affected.

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The cancellations affect easyJet flights to and from Gatwick Airport across July, August and September.

The airline told ITV that around 95 per cent of passengers have been put onto alternative flights.

However, that leaves around 9,000 passengers without a replacement flight.

An easyJet spokesperson told The Sun that they are currently operating around 1,8000 flights a day, but that the cancellations were due to a number of “challenging conditions” including limited airspace following the war in Ukraine as well as ATC strikes.

They said: “As Eurocontrol has stated, the whole industry is seeing challenging conditions this summer with more constrained air space due to the war in Ukraine resulting in unprecedented ATC delays, as well as further potential ATC strike action.

“We have therefore made some pre-emptive adjustments to our programme consolidating a small number of flights at Gatwick, where we have multiple daily frequencies, in order to help mitigate these external challenges on the day of travel for our customers and we continue to operate around over 90,000 flights over this period.

“Customers whose flights are affected are being informed, with 95 per cent customers being rebooked onto an alternative flight and all customers provided with the option to rebook or receive a refund.

“We are sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused.”

Passengers who have their flights cancelled less than two weeks in advance and aren’t booked on a similar flight can get up to £220 in flight compensation.

It’s not the only issue easyJet passengers might face this summer.

EasyJet cabin crew in Portugal have scheduled strikes for later this month, clashing with the start of the school summer holidays.

Portuguese cabin crew who have rejected the latest pay offer will stage strikes between July 21 – 25.

Other airlines are also warning of more flight cancellations this summer.

United Airlines has said that they will have to reduce their schedule due to a combination of issues that saw hundreds of thousands of passengers affected last month.

Here’s everything you need to know about getting compensation if your flight is delayed or cancelled.

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