The airline has blamed issues such as staff shortages at ground and airport services, as well as delays in air traffic control for increased handling times, delayed flights and cancellations. It’s among many airlines facing the same problems as the industry struggles to make the cut after two years of turbulence associated with the coronavirus pandemic. EasyJet said it was canceling flights to Gatwick in response to last week’s announcement that the airport would reduce its daily flights in July and August to help cope with staff shortages. A similar limit has also been introduced from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. The airline said: “In response to these ceilings and to build additional resilience, easyJet is proactively consolidating a number of flights at affected airports. “This provides customers with advance notice and the ability to re-book alternative flights.” The airline said it expects to be able to re-book the “majority” of passengers for other departures, with “many being on the same day”. The CEO of EasyJet added: “Providing a safe and reliable operation for our customers in this demanding environment is the highest priority of easyJet and we regret that for some customers we could not offer the service they expected from us. “While in recent weeks the action we have taken to strengthen resilience has led us to continue to operate up to 1,700 flights and carry up to a quarter of a million customers a day, the continuing demanding operating environment has unfortunately continued to have an impact. cancellations. “In conjunction with airport ceilings, we are taking precautionary measures to increase resilience for the rest of the summer, including a series of further flight consolidations at affected airports, notifying customers in advance and expecting an overwhelming majority for alternative flights within 24 hours. “We believe that this is the right action we need to take so that we can deliver to all our customers during the peak summer period in this demanding environment.” In the fiscal quarter ending June 30, easyJet said it planned to operate 140,000 flights, carrying 22 million passengers. Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 2:01 Tips for canceled flights: Do not receive a refund This means that the capacity will be 550% of what it was in the same period last year, when industry worldwide was still affected by coronavirus restrictions. Read more: Gatwick cuts summer flights as Heathrow’s boss warns it could take 18 months to fix staff problems. The airline said the number of passengers carried in April and May was seven times higher than in the same months last year. Capacity in the quarter ending June 30 is expected to be around 87% of the level observed in 2019 – the latest year of normal travel conditions – with the quarter ending September 30 expected to be around 90%. Last month it had stated that it was expected to operate at 90% of 2019 capacity this quarter and around 97% in the fourth quarter. He added: “We believe that these capacity / cost implications are one-off this summer, as we would expect all parties to build greater resilience in time for the 2023 peak periods.”
