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Daily Record
Daily Record
Lifestyle
Daniel Morrow & David Clark

New fears for holidays abroad as cost of flights 'treble' amid raft of recent cancellations

The cost of some flights have reportedly skyrocketed amid a raft of recent cancellations across the board.

Both British Airways and EasyJet have cancelled a tens of thousands of flights in recent days and weeks, the Mirror reports.

And while the number of flights has decreased, an increased demand for seats onboard planes does not seem to be letting up.

Holidaymakers across the UK are seeking to catch up on a number of cancelled holidays during the Covid pandemic.

READ MORE: TUI cancels more flights and holidays to Sri Lanka as holidaymakers are urged not to travel

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And it now appears that the airline industry is attempting to recoup some of the losses it made during lockdown.

The Daily Mail reports that fares from London to Gran Canaria on July 16 rose from £156.60 to £368.69 within a week.

Other routes to Madeira and Rhodes increased from £72.80 to £349.20 and from £89.99 to £351.20 respectively.

Popular British Airways routes to Faro in Portugal and the Greek island of Crete now cost in excess of £500, while easyJet fares from Gatwick to Rome almost doubled from £226.99 to £441.99.

Even budget airline Ryanair has hiked some of its prices, with a ticket from London to Gran Canaria rising from £156.60 to £368.69 and fares to Madeira leaping from £72.80 to £349.20 – an almost 400% hike.

The spiralling cost of travel is likely to price many families out of foreign holidays this summer and could lead to another staycation boom.

Passengers whose flights were among those cancelled are entitled to another flight or a refund but, with no guarantee of airlines having the capacity to reschedule their ticket, could be priced out of buying a replacement ticket with any money refunded.

Jet2 boss Philip Meeson said that airports and the companies responsible for running them were responsible for the ongoing aviation chaos.

Talking about ongoing staffing issues following the exodus of staff during the pandemic, he said in quotes reported by the Daily Mail that airports were “woefully ill-prepared and poorly resourced”.

It was “inexcusable, bearing in mind our flights have been on sale for many months”, he added.

The Airport Operators Association insisted that recruitment progress for security staff was going well and that they were working closely with check-in and baggage companies in a bid to alleviate any delays.

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