British Airways has cancelled 124 short- and medium-haul flights to and from its main base, London Heathrow airport on Friday.
The Independent calculates 26 domestic flights have been grounded, including multiple round-trips from Heathrow to Aberdeen, Belfast City, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle and Jersey.
Ninety-eight international flights are cancelled, including five round-trips from Heathrow to Amsterdam and four to Geneva.
BA says the flight cancellations are all pre-planned and that passengers were given advance notice – with some departures taken out of the schedules many weeks ahead.
While airlines do not disclose passenger loads on the grounds of commercial sensitivity, if an average of 80 people were booked on each flight at the point of cancellation then nearly 10,000 travellers will have been affected by today’s cancellations.
British Airways departures from Heathrow
Domestic: 13 outbound, 26 sectors in total
- Aberdeen (2)
- Belfast City (2)
- Edinburgh (3)
- Glasgow (2)
- Jersey (2)
- Newcastle (2)
International: 49 outbound, 98 sectors in total
- Amsterdam (5)
- Athens
- Barcelona (2)
- Berlin
- Bologna
- Brussels
- Bucharest
- Budapest
- Copenhagen (2)
- Dublin
- Faro
- Frankfurt
- Geneva (4)
- Gothenburg
- Hamburg
- Hanover
- Larnaca
- Luxembourg
- Madrid
- Malaga
- Marseille
- Milan Linate
- Milan Malpensa
- Munich
- Naples
- Olbia
- Oslo (2)
- Paris CDG
- Prague
- Rome (2)
- Stockholm (2)
- Tirana
- Toulouse
- Vienna
- Warsaw
- Zurich (2)
British Airways has brought in aircraft and crew from its Oneworld partner Finnair to try to stabilise its schedules over the summer.
Besides the cancellations by BA, the UK’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, has been cancelling dozens of flights daily – particularly to and from its largest base, London Gatwick.
While most cancellations are notified with several days advance warning, on Friday morning easyJet grounded seven round-trips at very short notice from Gatwick,. The flights were due to serve:
- Berlin
- Bilbao
- Jersey
- Milan Bergamo
- Palma
- Turin
- Valencia
All passengers whose flights are cancelled are entitled to new flights on the original day of departure if a seat is available, even if it is on a rival airline.
If the cancellation was announced less than two weeks in advance and the airline is responsible, they are also due cash compensation.
