Easyjet passengers face further delays
(Picture: Elliot Wagland)Travellers returning from half term holidays were hit with further chaos on Monday morning as Easyjet cancelled 13 of its scheduled flights into London’s Gatwick Airport.
According to the airport’s online arrivals board the budget operator has cancelled flights from European destinations including Madrid, Palermo, Malta and Milan as well two domestic flights from Scotland. Wizz Air also cancelled three flights from Mikonos, Milan and Catania.
The latest cancellations come with thousands of travellers still stranded abroad after Easyjet said it had to cut 80 flights on Sunday and apologised to customers for the disruption.
“We are very sorry and fully understand the disruption this will have caused for our customers,” the airline said in a statement, adding it was doing everything possible to get passengers to their destinations.
It said it had extended its customer service opening hours from 7am to 11pm, and was helping those affected find hotel accommodation.
Air passengers have faced days of disruption at Britain’s airports, with flights cancelled and serious delays disrupting thousands of holidaymakers’ plans as they try to travel abroad for a break for the first time following the Covid pandemic. Travel bosses have blamed staffing shortages as well as bad weather for the disruption.
Many have experienced long queues at airports to get through security, check-in baggage or delays in retrieving luggage.
Following a meeting with airports, airlines and ground handling companies last week, the Cabinet minister said he had answered industry demands to speed up security checks for workers and allow some staff in non-security related jobs to take up training immediately.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps on Sunday accused aviation bosses of “cutting too far” during the coronavirus pandemic, despite receiving £8 billion of state support and having access to furlough money to keep staff on the books while travel restrictions were in place.
“It is very important that flights aren’t oversold, for example, and I want to make sure there is automatic compensation for passengers,” he told the BBC.
Following a meeting with airports, airlines and ground handling companies last week, the Cabinet minister said he had answered industry demands to speed up security checks for workers and allow some staff in non-security related jobs to take up training immediately.
Mr Shapps said: “We’ll work with the industry very hard between now and the summer to make sure we don’t see a repeat of those scenes.
He said: “It can’t be acceptable that it is so complicated sometimes to get a flight rearranged or to get your money back. I want it to be more like delay repay works on trains, where it is an automated process.”
He said further changes were coming to try to avoid similar scenes for the summer holidays.
