More than 60 easyJet flights have been cancelled at the UK’s two busiest airports, leaving passengers stranded without information or a plan to get to their destination
Dozens of cancelled flights have left large numbers of holidaymakers stranded at Heathrow and Gatwick as air traffic control delays and bad weather cause major problems for airlines.
At the country’s two busiest airports, British Airways and easyJet have grounded their flights from Heathrow Airport. EasyJet has cancelled flights to and from Lanzarote, Budapest and Venice, and two return flights to Belfast International and Edinburgh.
One passenger, Tom McCarthy, wrote on X: “To leave us on a plane for 3 hours only to then cancel the flight and give us zero alternatives is an absolute disgrace! Family holiday cancelled, now I will no doubt have to fight to my limits to get my money back and compensation!”
Hundreds of other flights across Europe have been delayed, with travel at Heathrow severely disrupted. British Airways cancelled two return flights to Rome, as well as services to Naples, Barcelona and Larnaca in Cyprus.
At least 10,000 easyJet and British Airways passengers will be affected by the flight route chaos as the airlines apologise to their passengers.
easyJet said it would not yet be offering paid compensation to passengers, with easyJet messages to cancelled passengers reading: “We are sorry that your flight has been cancelled. This is due to air traffic control restrictions. The disruption to your flight is outside our control and is considered an extraordinary circumstance.”
Airlines can avoid paying hundreds of pounds in compensation if they can prove that the cause of cancellations or long delays was beyond their control. Under EU air passenger rights rules, airlines must offer hotels, meals and alternative flights as soon as possible. The Mirror has contacted British Airways and easyJet for comment on the cancellations.
However, at Manchester and London Stansted, the UK’s second and third largest airports, only one flight was cancelled, an easyJet flight to Copenhagen and an A-Jet departure to Ankara. Meanwhile, Europe’s largest budget airline Ryanair has not made any UK cancellations and has condemned what it calls “unacceptable” delays due to “repeated shortages of air traffic control staff across Europe”
In a statement on its website, it apologized to passengers for “the excessive flight delays caused today, Monday 8 July, by the shortage of European ATC staff, which are affecting all European airlines. “ATC services, which have had the advantage of no French ATC strike disruption this summer, continue to underperform (despite flight volumes being 5% behind 2019 levels) with repeated ‘staffing shortages’.” Ryanair says one in six of its ‘first wave’ departures – 579 early flights – were delayed due to staffing shortages. These repeated flight delays due to ATC mismanagement are unacceptable.”
Last week, hundreds of Aer Lingus pilots went on strike and marched at Dublin Airport as part of the ongoing dispute over pay. A strike was launched on 26 June and an eight-hour strike began at 5am on 29 June. Aer Lingus was forced to cancel 120 flights on Saturday, affecting around 15,000 travellers.
This comes after EasyJet cancelled a series of flights, throwing families’ summer holidays into chaos at the end of June.
Several flights from Edinburgh and Glasgow airports have been cancelled by the budget airline with little notice. However, tourists did arrive at these hubs to check in but were reportedly sent home. Some told the Mirror Booking alternative flights has cost them, at least so far, hundreds of pounds.