Holidaymakers issued warning as easyJet cancels 1,700 summer flights

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

EasyJet has cancelled 1,700 flights for the summer - affecting tens of thousands of holidaymakers. Flights scheduled between July and September were axed due to air traffic control (ATC) restrictions.

Most of the flights are at Gatwick Airport, west Sussex. According to the Independent newspaper, 180,000 passengers are affected by the cancellations.

ATC restrictions were enforced due to strikes, staff shortages, and airspace closures related to the war in Ukraine. Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features. Fridays and weekends are expected to be most at risk of disruption.

Travel experts have now warned that holidaymakers could face further disruption over the summer months due to strikes. A statement from easyJet said: “We are currently operating up to around 1,800 flights and carrying around 250,000 customers per day with more crew and pilots flying than ever before and like all airlines, we review our flights on an ongoing basis. “As Eurocontrol has stated, the whole industry is seeing challenging conditions this summer with more constrained air space due to the war in Ukraine resulting in unprecedented ATC delays, as well as further potential ATC strike action. “We have therefore made some pre-emptive adjustments to our programme consolidating a small number of flights at Gatwick, where we have multiple daily frequencies, in order to help mitigate these external challenges on the day of travel for our customers, and we continue to operate around 90,000 flights over this period. “Customers whose flights are affected are being informed, with 95% of customers being rebooked onto an alternative flight and all customers provided with the option to rebook or receive