British Airways has been named the worst airline for cancellations in 2022 so far, according to a new study.
Figures from air travel intelligence firm OAG, as reported by Sky News, said that the airline ground 3.5 per cent of flights to June this year.
Ryanair was the best performing airline, as it just cancelled 0.3 per cent of flights during the same period.
This meant that people flying with British Airways were 12 times more likely to have their flight cancelled when compared with Ryanair’s record, the Mirror reports.
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And the summer is unlikely to get better for BA after the firm recently cancelled 10,000 more flights until the end of October this year.
Globally, China Eastern has been by far the worst affected, largely due to the mammoth lockdown that has been rolling on in its base in Shanghai since March.
A BA spokesperson said that some of the cancellations were due to major storms in February, as well as an IT fault at the end of March, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Covid measures in Asia.
In recent weeks it has grounded more flights from airports including Heathrow, which has stripped back the number of its departures due to staffing issues.
OAG data also show that Gatwick has had the most cancellations so far this year of any UK airport.
More than 3% of all planned flight from the West London travel hub did not take off this year, compared to 0.3% of those from Stansted - the best performing UK airport.
June was Gatwick's worst month this year, with one in every 14 flights from the airport cancelled during that period.
The latest OAG figures mean that a flight in 2022 is 2.5 times more likely to be cancelled than one booked during the same period in 2019.
The UK has faired worse than all other major European countries when it comes to flight cancellations this year, with its total 2% of flights cancelled slightly higher than Germany's similar figure.
Further afield US, Canada, Indonesia and Turkey all cancelled more.
A Gatwick Airport spokesperson said: “We regret any cancelations and disruption to our passengers. This is why the airport will carefully and gradually increase its declared capacity - starting at 825 flights a day in July and then up to 850 flights a day in August – so that airlines fly more reliable flight programmes and passengers experience a better standard of service.
“We took our action after an airport review found that a number of companies based at Gatwick are, and will continue to, operate with a severe lack of staff resources over the summer holiday period.
"If not addressed, this issue would see airport passengers continuing to experience an unreliable and potentially poor standard of service, including more queues, delays and last-minute cancellations.
“By carefully controlling and gradually increasing the maximum number of flights over time - until the end of August - the airport aims to help both its airlines and their ground handling companies improve the service they provide by reducing the number of flights they need to manage.
"In particular, this will benefit ground handling companies, who are employed by the airlines and are responsible for managing check in areas, turning aircraft round on the airfield ready for departure, and loading and delivering baggage back to passengers.”
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