Flights to and from Gatwick airport throughout the months of July, August, and September have been canceled by the airline.
Easyjet attributed the frequent cancellations to congested airspace over Europe and ongoing air traffic control issues.
According to the business, 95% of the affected passengers were rebooked on different flights.
As many schools in England and Wales get ready to break up for the summer, Easyjet announced their choice.
According to aviation analytics company Cirium, July is expected to see the most UK aircraft departures since October 2019—before the Covid epidemic.
It stated that there will be 11% more flights leaving the UK than in July of the previous year.
According to EasyJet, its flight cancellations roughly equal one day’s worth of travel. It will continue to run roughly 90,000 trips throughout the time.
The blockade of Ukrainian airspace due to Russia’s war generated congestion in the sky and disrupted flights, according to an EasyJet representative, causing “challenging conditions this summer” for the whole airline business.
They added that potential strikes by European air traffic controllers could have an effect.
In order to lessen these outside obstacles for our clients on the day of travel, the spokesman stated, “We have therefore made some pre-emptive adjustments to our program consolidating a small number of flights at Gatwick, where we have multiple daily frequencies.”
Customers whose flights are affected are informed, and 95% of them are rebooked onto other flights with the opportunity to rebook or obtain a refund for all other customers.
Long waits and canceled flights resulted from last year’s dramatic surge in demand following the relaxation of Covid travel restrictions due to severe personnel shortages at airlines and airports.
Over a third of UK flights were delayed overall in 2022.
Although airports and airlines claimed to be in a far better position this year, they acknowledge that the situation in Ukraine and traffic issues could pose challenges.
In the first half of 2023, French air traffic controller walkouts have disrupted operations, forcing Ryanair to cancel 650 flights in April alone.
While no dates have been set, Eurocontrol, which oversees aircraft over Europe, indicated one of its unions might engage in industrial action this summer.
According to travel industry analyst John Strickland, flights from Northern Europe to popular vacation spots like Spain and Portugal were impacted by air traffic controller (ATC) strikes in France.According to him, rerouting flights into already crowded skies made problems worse, while ATC shortages in nations like Greece and Denmark caused additional delays.
The amount of delays and cancellations increases when the unknowns, such as terrible weather (summer storms being the finest example), are taken into account, according to Mr. Strickland.
Experts agree that it is uncertain how any future strikes will affect the ongoing negotiations with unions.
Airlines have “made enormous efforts since the pandemic to build resilience into operations,” according to Airlines UK, the industry’s representative.
The organization’s members, it continued, “are looking forward to a busy summer, meeting growing demand for travel and carrying millions of people on vacations.”
Since Covid, travelers’ preferences for locations also seem to have changed.
According to Cirium, demand for flights to Turkey, Greece, and Croatia in July has surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
However, flights to important locations like Italy, France, and Spain haven’t been as successful.
It stated that, when comparing July 2019 to the same month last year, flights to Italy and France both decreased by 13%.
Spain departures are down 6% from July before COVID.
However, with 14,962 flights scheduled between the UK and Spain this month, it continues to be the most sought-after location.
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