British Airways has announced it will axe another 10,300 short-haul flights until the end of October. The move takes the percentage of cancellations across the airline to a total of 13% this summer.
BA has been one of the worst affected carriers in terms of schedule disruption in recent months as the aviation industry battles increased demand and staff shortages. In a statement the airline said it was “not where we wanted to be” but believed the cuts were “the right thing to do for our customers and colleagues”.
It said: “The whole aviation industry continues to face into significant challenges and we’re completely focused on building resilience into our operation to give customers the certainty they deserve. The Government recently decided to give the whole industry slot alleviation to minimise potential disruption this summer.
“While taking further action is not where we wanted to be, it’s the right thing to do for our customers and our colleagues. This new flexibility means that we can further reduce our schedule and consolidate some of our quieter services so that we can protect as many of our holiday flights as possible.
“While most of our flights are unaffected and the majority of customers will get away as planned, we don’t underestimate the impact this will have and we’re doing everything we can to get their travel plans back on track. We’re in touch to apologise and offer rebooking options for new flights with us or another airline as soon as possible or issue a full refund.”
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said the latest blow was a “damning indictment” of BA’s failure to manage its summer flight schedule. This latest raft of flight cancellations is a damning indictment of BA’s mismanagement of its summer flight schedule. BA has continued to promote and sell flights it could not fulfil, even as thousands of customers have faced the chaos of cancellations in recent weeks,” he said.
“Which? recently reported BA to the Civil Aviation Authority for neglecting to tell passengers about their right to compensation and failing to reroute customers at the earliest opportunity. The CAA must take action if BA fails to meet its legal obligations amid this latest round of cancellations.”
