TUI has announced it is cancelling a number of from Manchester Airport through to the end of June, as airports and airlines struggle to cope over the half term period.
The travel giant will be cancelling approximately 43 flights a week until June 30, 2022, and said that it will be contacting affected passengers, who will automatically receive a full refund.
A spokesperson for TUI told the Mirror: "“We would like to apologise to our customers who have experienced flight delays and cancellations in recent days and understand that many of our customers have been looking forward to their holiday with us for a long time.
"Due to the amount of on-going disruption in our operation at Manchester Airport, we have made the incredibly difficult decision to cancel six flights a day (43 flights a week), from Tuesday 31st May until Thursday 30th June. All other airports in the UK are planned to operate as normal.
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"We understand how disappointing this will be for those impacted; however, we believe this is necessary to provide stability and a better customer service at Manchester Airport. We will continue to work closely with all our airport partners and suppliers so we can provide the best possible holiday experience for our customers.
"Customers affected by the flight cancellations will receive a full refund for their holiday, as well as an extra gesture of goodwill. Customers impacted in the next 14 days will also receive information on how to apply for compensation in line with regulations.
"We would like to reassure our customers that cancellations of this nature are extremely rare and would like to thank them for their patience and understanding.”
A Manchester Airport spokesman said: “Over the last few days TUI and its appointed ground handler, Swissport, have experienced significant challenges with their check-in and baggage reclaim operations at Manchester Airport.
“From extensive discussions with the TUI and Swissport management teams, it is clear that they are experiencing temporary staff shortages, in common with other aviation and travel companies.
“Given these challenges, we understand TUI’s difficult decision to cancel a number of services over the course of the next month, although we are obviously disappointed to see passengers’ plans disrupted in this way.
“We will continue to work with TUI, Swissport and other partners to give passengers the best possible service as the travel sector builds back to full strength after the pandemic.
“In the meantime, we continue to advise passengers to arrive three hours before their flight and to be as prepared as they can be for their journey through the airport."
Staff shortages due to Covid have left airports and airlines struggling to cope with the demand from holidaymakers.
It's one of the main reasons why airlines are cancelling flights, with the likes of TUI, BA and easyJet announcing cancellations and delays, sometimes at the last minute.
Meanwhile Brits are facing chaotic scenes at UK airports this half term, including hours-long queues, cancelled flights and luggage being abandoned.
For example at Bristol Airport, holidaymakers reported queues which stretched outside of the terminal, while in Manchester Airport customers reported waiting for over five hours to get their luggage back after a flight.
A number of factors are at play including staff shortages (caused by a mixture of Covid and redundancies during the pandemic), a surge of holiday-starved Brits, and panicked travellers arriving early at the airport to try and avoid congestion - but in a Catch 22, this leads to longer queues.
In fact, amidst the recent wave of flight delays, TUI issued a statement for passengers which included details on arrival times: "We’d like to remind customers not to arrive at the airport too far in advance of their flight, as this can contribute to terminal queueing delays. Standard check-in opens at least two and a half hours before departure time for short and mid-haul flights, and at least three and a half hours before departure for long-haul flights."
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