At least 35 easyJet flights have been cancelled at Gatwick airport
(Picture: PA Wire)Thousands of airline passengers faced more disruption on Tuesday as widespread flight cancellations continued.
EasyJet cancelled at least 35 flights into Gatwick Airport, including services from Amsterdam, Ibiza, Copenhagen and Valencia. Hungarian carrier Wizz Air also axed at least seven flights due to serve UK airports.
The latest disruption comes as more than 80,000 people have been hit with delays over the past week as airlines and airports struggle to cope with the surge in demand as holidaymakers travelled abroad during the half-term holiday and extended bank holiday weekend.
Thousands of travellers are still stranded abroad or have been forced to pay for new flights to get home. The delays and disruption have sparked fears that the travel industry could face a repeat of the chaos during the summer holidays, with millions of people set to take their first foreign holiday since the Covid pandemic.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has accused travel operators and airlines of overselling flights and has warned firms that they must get to grips with the problems - mainly caused by staffing problems - before the summer.
But one union boss said the Government had been told to expect problems during the half-term break months ago.
Paul Nowak, deputy general secretary of union TUC: “We did tell the government over a year ago that they needed to do more to prepare for the industry emerging from lockdown. We warned them it wasn’t going to be enough to just announce the easing of travel restrictions and hope that everything would bounce back to normal. We warned about staffing and skills shortages.
“The companies do have to take some responsibility. There’s no doubt at all that during the pandemic some companies took advantage of the lockdowns to lay off large numbers of staff to reduce pay terms and conditions and we are living with the consequences now.”
Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme if the problems could be fixed in time for the summer, he said: “It’s going to be difficult ..first thing the government needs to do is recognise it doesn’t have all the answers....the key thing is get the right people around the table right now.
However Luke Petherbridge, from the Association of British Travel Agents, sought to reassure travellers that disruption over the past week had been relatively limited.
“Cancellations are actually only at about 3 per cent of total passengers,” he told the BBC. “So there will be people listening to this across the country that have holidays coming up or due to come home in the coming days and it’s important to make clear the vast majority of those people will be able to do that wihout any serious problems.”
He added: “It’s really important to remember that of course where people are having their travel plans disrupted that is significant and disappointing and causing distress to those individuals...but it is important to also stress that the vast majority of people this week have been able to get away on holiday and get back this week without these types of difficulties.”
Easyjet and Wizz Air did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
