Britain's biggest budget airline, easyJet, has cancelled at least 40 domestic and European flights on Wednesday – mainly to and from its biggest base, London Gatwick airport.
The Independent calculates six domestic flights have been grounded from easyJet’s main base, including two round-trips from Gatwick to Edinburgh.
Twenty international flights are cancelled, including round-trips from Gatwick to Catania in Sicily, Prague and Bordeaux.
The airline says it is proactively cancelling 240 flights in the 10 days to 6 June, giving passengers some advance notice. But there are also some last-minute groundings, with travellers to Venice and Edinburgh already at the airport when their flights were axed.
While airlines do not disclose passenger loads on the grounds of commercial sensitivity, if an average of 150 people were booked on each flight at the point of cancellation then 6,000 travellers will have been affected by today’s cancellations.
EasyJet cancellations to and from Gatwick
- Amsterdam
- Belfast City
- Bologna
- Bordeaux
- Catania
- Edinburgh (2)
- Funchal (Madeira)
- Krakow
- Ljubljana
- Munich
- Prague
- Pristina
- Sofia
- Valencia
- Venice
Other cancelled links include services from Bristol to Pisa, Newcastle and Amsterdam, as well as a return trip between Manchester and Belfast International.
Besides the cancellations by easyJet, British Airways has been culling dozens of flights each day from its planned schedule – particularly to and from its largest base, London Heathrow.
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.
