Almost half of British Airways flights have been affected by air traffic control delays during a “difficult” summer.
The disclosure reportedly came in a memo to staff from senior management.
The latest disruption came last week with BA forced to cancel 59 flights to and from Heathrow on Thursday and Friday due to air traffic control delays caused by bad weather. Other flights from the airport suffered lengthy delays.
Writing in an email on Friday morning sent to reassure staff after one of BA’s “toughest [recent] days”, two of the airline’s senior executives said the disruption added to a frustrating period for the airline.
“Sadly, last night follows what has been a difficult summer for you all, as a result of some of the external challenges we have faced,” Rene de Groot, chief operating officer, Andy Best, and chief technical officer, wrote in the email seen by the Financial Times and also reported by The Independent.
A total of 42% of BA flights this year have been disrupted by air traffic control restrictions, up from 24% in 2019, the last year of flying before the pandemic disrupted aviation, they said.
The executives also warned that BA would be forced to “make a number of cancellations” to flights operated by its fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners over the next 10 days because of “continued . . . delays to the delivery of engines and parts from Rolls-Royce”.
Rolls-Royce said it was working with BA and other customers to minimise the impact of limited availability of spares due to supply chain constraints.
“Unfortunately, this is an issue affecting the whole aerospace industry,” it said.
Airlines across Europe, led vocally by Ryanair, have complained about disruption from air traffic control all summer, as bad weather, the closure of airspace because of the war in Ukraine and a shortage of controllers have combined to challenge the industry’s resilience.
BA said in the email to staff that it would work with the UK’s National Air Traffic Services (Nats) to improve resilience.
Nats said restrictions are only applied for safety reasons, and it would work with BA “to minimise disruption during challenging operational days”.
BA unveiled a £7 billion transformation in March, emphasising a “drive for operational resilience” alongside spending on IT, the customer experience, recruitment and sustainability.
Travel Weekly has contacted BA for comment.