BRITISH faces a nightmare when airlines announce a new wave of cancellations – and Heathrow is hit hardest.
According to a report, airlines have until this Friday to tell Heathrow officials which flights will no longer fly.
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British Airways is expected to cancel most of the flights caused by an amnesty on take-off and landing slots at Britain’s busiest airport this week, the Telegraph reports.
BA planned to transport 1.8 million passengers on more than 9,000 flights from Heathrow in July alone.
Holidaymakers have already been hit by months of cancellations, delays and missing luggage, as airlines and airports are struggling to keep up with customer demand amid staff shortages.
Passengers were trapped in long queues on Friday after EasyJet workers went on strike in Spain, with more industrial action planned across the continent.
The amnesty at Heathrow is expected to cause a spate of cancellations over the summer.
BA, which is the largest airline at Heathrow, will have to redirect 80 to 85 per cent of its passengers whose flights have been canceled in recent days.
An airline spokesman said the amnesty slot “helps us provide the security our customers deserve by making it easier to consolidate some of our quieter daily flights early to multi-frequency destinations, and to protect more of our holiday flights.”
A Heathrow spokesman said: “We encourage airlines to take this opportunity to reconsider their summer schedules without penalty and to inform passengers of any changes as early as possible.”
EasyJet cabin crew today launched a nine-day strike over bases in Barcelona, Malaga and Palma.
Airline personnel belonging to the Spanish USO trade union have announced that they will be leaving last month after easyJet confirmed that 11,000 flights would be scrapped from its summer schedules.
The union is seeking a 40 percent wage increase in low-paid cabin crew basic wages.
This is because Heathrow was forced to cancel more flights on Thursday affecting thousands of travelers.
The London airport told 30 airlines they had to cancel flights during the morning rush hour and it apparently affected as many as 5,000 passengers who were informed on short notice of the cancellations.
Smoking Britons complained on social media calling it “slaughter” and “total chaos” – one man wrote: “Absolute rubble, complete chaos and only found out at check-in without prior notice.”
Another wrote: “Total chaos at Heathrow this morning. BA flights canceled and no customer service!
A third said: “More than two hours since landing and still not from @HeathrowAirport, waste.”
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