British Airways cancels more flights in July
More British Airways flights are being cancelled affecting as many as 105,000 passengers due to fly from Heathrow and Gatwick this month.
The airline is reported to be trimming more than 650 flights from the two London airports in July in an attempt to avoid a repeat of last month’s disruption.
More than 76,000 seats are being dropped from BA’s Heathrow schedule and 29,400 from Gatwick across at least 70 destinations, the Telegraph reported.
Further cancellations are expected to be announced this week as part of the government’s airport slots amnesty designed to minimise disruption during the summer peak.
BA announced in May a 10% reduction in its schedule between April and October. That level has now risen to 11%.
A spokesperson said: “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.
“As the entire aviation industry continues to face into the most challenging period in its history, regrettably it has become necessary to make some further reductions.
“We’re in touch with customers to apologise and offer to rebook them or issue a full refund.”
On the slot alleviation initiative, the spokesperson added: “We welcome these new measures, which help us to provide the certainty our customers deserve by making it easier to consolidate some of our quieter daily flights to multi-frequency destinations well in advance, and to protect more of our holiday flights.”
The latest changes come as the aviation sector continues to struggle to meet a surge in demand following the ending of Covid travel restrictions earlier in the year.
BA has since embarked on its biggest recruitment drive after shedding staff during the pandemic with losses running at as much as £20 million a day at the worst period of the crisis.
