EasyJet trims June flight schedule in bid to avoid further airport chaos
EasyJet has reduced its flight schedule for the rest of June in a bid to overcome the travel chaos seen in the school holidays when staff shortages meant thousands of people were hit by last-minute cancellations.
Britain’s biggest carrier has come under fire for its handling of the disruption which also saw passengers endure long delays. In a message to staff on Friday, its chief operating officer, Peter Bellew, said the carrier was making pre-emptive cancellations for the “coming days and weeks” to “increase resilience across the network”.
“Making these cancellations is not something we take lightly but what’s worse is to cancel our customers’ plans on the day that they are ready to fly,” Bellew said in the message shared with the Guardian. “We’re all aware of the impact the current situation is having on our customers, our people and our reputation.”
The airline was also working on a plan to remedy issues “within our own operations that are in our control”, he said, adding: “We also want to ensure that we have the correct mitigations in place for the issues affecting the industry.”
Bellew said: “We want to share the plan on this very soon however, we also need to deal with the immediate operation. We’re making some pre-emptive cancellations for the coming days and weeks in order to increase resilience across the network.”
The aviation industry has struggled to cope with the huge bounce back in demand for flights and holidays following the lifting of Covid travel restrictions. This is blamed on depleted staffing levels both in the air and on the ground as thousands of workers either lost their jobs or found new roles with other companies during the pandemic.
The recent eleventh-hour cancellations made by easyJet have been
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