A total of 1,143 flights from the UK were cancelled in the last week, as staff shortages caused by Covid caused a wave of cancellations from the likes of easyJet and British Airways.
New research from aviation analytics firm Cirium looked at the number of cancellations between March 28 and April 3, as Brits heading on Easter holidays have been hit with delays and long queues at airports including Manchester and Birmingham.
In fact, passengers are being urged to arrive at the airport at the earliest possible time to allow for delays at security, after some passengers were subject to four-hour queues over the weekend.
According to the Cirium study, 382 of the cancelled flights were for travel over the weekend alone.
It makes for a stark comparison to pre-pandemic levels; for the same period in 2019, only 197 flights were cancelled at the time. This makes for a 480% increase in cancellations compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Sign up to the Mirror's travel newsletter for more news, updates and tips.
easyJet has cancelled at least 222 flights since Friday, blaming the disruption on "higher than usual levels of employee sickness" due to Covid. Meanwhile, British Airways announced the cancellation of 115 flights to or from Heathrow Airport.
Commenting on the data, Paul Charles, CEO of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said: "This is a staggering level of flight cancellations caused by a cocktail of not having enough staff in place and Covid-induced staff shortages. Airlines are certainly seeing a high level of demand to fly, but are simply unable to cope with that demand due to a lack of resources. It’s a nightmare situation for airlines and airports at the moment."
If you're due to travel this week, The Mirror has put together a guide on how to check if your flight is cancelled.
The silver lining for holidaymakers is that if an airline cancels your flight, you are legally entitled to a refund, or being booked on an alternative flight to your destination.
You may also be offered a voucher from the airline to use for a future booking.
You can choose any of the options, but if you'd rather get the full refund you are entitled to this.
According to the Citizens Advice Bureau, a full refund also includes "other flights from the airline that you won’t use in the same booking such as onward or return flights".
If you're part-way through a journey, you also have a right to fly back to your original departure airport.
It's worth noting that if you were given less than two weeks' notice for the cancellation and you're offered a replacement flight that delays you by at least two hours, you may also be entitled to compensation.
You can find out more about the data on cirium.com.
Have you been affected by the delays? Email us on webtravel@trinitymirror.com.
