The price of summer holidays is set to soar as the cancellation of thousands more flights led to the cost of some routes trebling, say reports.
British Airways axed 10,300 flights to Europe on Wednesday, having already cancelled 16,000 in March.
With a fifth of BA's scheduled flights until the autumn now grounded and with easyJet also cutting over 10,000 flights, reports say that increased demand for remaining seats has led to a spike in prices.
An eagerness among Brits to resume foreign getaways post-Covid has exacerbated the situation, as airlines look to increase margins on remaining flights to cover the losses from cancelled trips and pandemic losses.
The Daily Mail reported that fares from London to Gran Canaria on July 16 rose from £156.60 to £368.69 within a week.
Other routes to Madeira and Rhodes increased from £72.80 to £349.20 and from £89.99 to £351.20 respectively.
Popular British Airways routes to Faro in Portugal and the Greek island of Crete now cost in excess of £500, while easyJet fares from Gatwick to Rome almost doubled from £226.99 to £441.99.
Even budget airline Ryanair has hiked some of its prices, with a ticket from London to Gran Canaria rising from £156.60 to £368.69 and fares to Madeira leaping from £72.80 to £349.20 – an almost 400% hike.
The spiralling cost of travel is likely to price many families out of foreign holidays this summer and could lead to another staycation boom.
Passengers whose flights were among those cancelled are entitled to another flight or a refund but, with no guarantee of airlines having the capacity to reschedule their ticket, could be priced out of buying a replacement ticket with any money refunded.
Jet2 boss Philip Meeson said that airports and the companies responsible for running them were responsible for the ongoing aviation chaos.
Talking about ongoing staffing issues following the exodus of staff during the pandemic, he said in quotes reported by the Daily Mail that airports were “woefully ill-prepared and poorly resourced”.
It was “inexcusable, bearing in mind our flights have been on sale for many months”, he added.
The Airport Operators Association insisted that recruitment progress for security staff was going well and that they were working closely with check-in and baggage companies in a bid to alleviate any delays.
