TUI has issued an apology as some travelers suffer half-term chaos. The travel company has announced a "small number" of flight cancellations and delays in a blow to holidaymakers' travel plans.
It said that "various operational and supply chain issues" are to blame for the flight cancellations. Tui confirmed one flight had been cancelled from Manchester, two from Gatwick and three flights from Birmingham.
A TUI spokesperson said: "We would like to apologise for the inconvenience to customers who have experienced flight delays or a flight cancellation. Delays have been caused due to a combination of factors and we are doing everything we can to keep customers updated, and will provide refreshments and, where appropriate, provide hotel accommodation.
"Where we have made the difficult decision to cancel a small number of flights, customers will receive a full refund within 14 days and we will contact them directly to help them try and find another holiday. We would like to thank our customers for their understanding and apologise for any inconvenience caused."
It comes after the airline EasyJet announced it will cancel more than 200 flights over the next 10 days. EasyJet said the cancellations would affect about 24 flights per day from London’s Gatwick airport between May 28 and June 6. EasyJet earlier said its 200 cancellations were "necessary to provide reliable services over this busy period".
It comes after a software failure forced EasyJet to cancel around 200 flights on Thursday. A spokeswoman for the company said in a statement: "We have taken the decision to make advance cancellations of around 24 Gatwick flights per day starting from May 28 until June 6.
"We are very sorry for the late notice of some of these cancellations and inconvenience caused for customers booked on these flights, however, we believe this is necessary to provide reliable services over this busy period.
"Customers are being informed from today (Friday) and provided with the option to rebook their flight or receive a refund and can apply for compensation in line with regulations. Over the next week we will be operating around 1,700 flights per day, with around a quarter of these operating to and from Gatwick."
Last week TUI cancelled further holidays to Sri Lanka, with all holidays up to and including June 12 being affected. The announcement comes as the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office continue to warn against all but essential travel to the country. The warning comes as protests have been taking place across Sri Lanka due to an economic crisis. Locals are facing shortages of medicines, fuel and food as well as daily power cuts due to electricity rationing.
