More than 1,800 flights scrapped this bank holiday weekend
AIRLINES have scrapped nearly 2,000 flights this weekend, affecting Brits heading abroad for the long weekend.
Aviation data company Cirium said that this means nearly 290,000 seats will be affected.
The data found that approximately 900 inbound flights and 900 outbound flights have been cancelled across the bank holiday weekend since the start of July.
Many of the cancellations are due to the ongoing staff shortage affecting airlines and airlines across the UK.
The data that British Airways has made the largest cuts since July 1, with 380 departures cancelled.
This is followed by Flybe with 130 and easyJet at 90.
Read more on travel
Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency: ‘It’s astonishing to see over a quarter of a million seats cut from flight schedules, at a time when demand to fly remains high.
‘Some UK airports are continuing to impose caps on the numbers departing, so disrupting travel plans and forcing seat prices higher due to the squeeze on availability.
“Our aviation sector should be growing strongly on one of the busiest weekends of the year, and not held back by staff shortages and poor planning by airports and ground handlers.
“There are aircraft ready to be used but not enough people to get them prepared and off the ground.”
Most read in News Travel
Both Heathrow and Gatwick currently have flight caps in place to reduce chaos at the airports.
Heathrow’s cap is limited from 104,000 daily passengers to 100,000 passengers, which is in place until October 29.
And Gatwick’s cap, ending this month, capped flights at 850 in August, down from 900 daily flights.
It comes just days after British Airways confirmed they would be cancelling 10,000 flights this winter.
Read More on The Sun
And photos show huge queues forming in Manchester Airport as early as 6.30am this morning.
The busiest days are predicted to be today and tomorrow when an estimated 32,000 passengers a day will pass through the airport.