British Airways, the UK’s largest airline, announced that it will cancel a further 1.500 flights, most of them during July. The company would cancel up to 10.300 short-haul flights by October.
Rescheduling and cancellations have been taking place for weeks, largely due to staff shortages in the industry. Many airlines are struggling to cope with the increased demand at the start of the summer season.
The origins of the problem date back to the most restrictive periods during the pandemic, when many jobs were lost in the industry. Since the subsequent relaxation of measures and the gradual reopening of different economic activities, aviation has experienced a marked recovery. The process has been going on for several months now. However, the increase in demand was not met with a timely adaptation to provide the services according to schedule.
In addition, there were claims and strikes carried out by unions representing aviation employees in different European countries. The situation particularly impacted operations in the United Kingdom.
The mix created a perfect storm: a wave of COVID-19 infections exacerbated staff shortages, the war in Ukraine restricted airspace in Europe and caused “bottlenecks in the skies”, and strikes contributed to the problem.
British Airways, which has laid off around 10.000 workers since the start of the pandemic and is now struggling to recover staff in a transformed labour market, had already reduced its initial flight schedule by 10% between April and October. However, the company said that “the entire aviation industry continues to face into the most challenging period in its history” and that more cancellations would be necessary.
Further reduction in the summer schedule was announced the same week of the UK Department for Transport’s deadline for airlines to release airport slots they expect to be unable to use. The period will end tomorrow, July 8th. The measure is intended to avoid further complications such as those experienced during last Easter and Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee.
“This new flexibility means that we can further reduce our schedule and consolidate some of our quieter services so that we can protect as many of our holiday flights as possible”, British Airways said.
On the other hand, the reduction in the flight schedule coincides with protests by hundreds of the airline’s check-in staff at London Heathrow Airport, which is both its main base of operations and the busiest passenger terminal in the country and in Europe.
While no strike action has so far been confirmed, union sources said they had held “extensive talks” with the company. However, the implementation of such a measure would impose further difficulties on British Airways’ scheduling.
