ritish airways has announced that it will cancel another 10,300 short-haul flights until the end of October.
The move brings the airline’s cancellation rate this summer to a total of 13%.
In recent months, BA has been one of the most affected airlines in terms of disruption of the timetable, since the aviation industry is struggling with increasing 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”.
While taking further action is not where we wanted to be, it is the right thing to do for our customers and our colleagues
It said: “The entire aviation industry continues to face significant challenges and we are fully focused on building resilience into our operation to give customers the assurance they deserve.
“The Government recently decided to provide the entire sector with lock lighting to minimize potential disruption this summer.
“While taking further action is not where we wanted to be, it is the right thing for our customers and our colleagues to do.
“This new flexibility means we can further trim our schedule and consolidate some of our quieter services, so we can protect as much of our holiday flights as possible.
“While most of our flights remain unaffected and the majority of customers get away as planned, we are not underestimating the impact this will have and are doing everything we can to get their travel plans back on track.
“We have contacted us to apologize and to offer reversal options for new flights to us or another airline as soon as possible or to make a full refund.”
Rory Boland, editor of which? tripsaid the latest blow was a “scathing indictment” of BA’s failure to manage its summer flight schedule.
“This latest wave 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 has failed to deliver, 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 failing to inform passengers of their right to compensation and for failing to reroute customers as quickly as possible. The CAA should take action if BA fails to meet its legal obligations during this latest round of cancellations.”