A total of 377 flights from UK airports have been cancelled over the past week (May 25-31), according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
The figures were released as the blame game escalated between the government and the travel sector about who is responsible for the recent chaos, queues and delays at airports.
The figures from Cirium show that Gatwick has been the most affected over the past week, with 151 cancellations, followed by Manchester (41), Heathrow (36), Bristol (27) and Edinburgh (19).
More: Industry leaders blast government criticism of airport delays
The analysis revealed that budget carrier easyJet has seen the most disruption, with 249 UK cancellations – 66% of all UK cancelled flights.
Loganair had 19 cancellations; Eastern Airways had 15; Tui had 14; and British Airways, including BA CityFlyer, had 16.
EasyJet said it operates more flights across Europe than any other UK airline, operating about 1,700 flights a day and carrying a quarter of a million customers across the continent.
For the forthcoming platinum Jubilee bank holiday weekend June (2-5), Cirium figures show that there are 10,794 departures scheduled from UK airports, equating to 1.9 million seats.
On Wednesday morning, transport secretary Grant Shapps was quoted by The Telegraph as saying: “Despite government warnings, operations seriously oversold flights and holidays relative to their capacity to deliver. This must not happen again, and all efforts must be directed at there being no repeat of this over the summer.”
Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer has joined other industry leaders to criticise government comments about half-term travel disruption.
And Gemma Antrobus, owner of Haslemere Travel and Aito Agents chair, tweeted about Shapp’s comments, highlighting the lack of sector-specific support during the pandemic which forced businesses to close and drove talent away from the sector.
How dare u @grantshapps! U never once provided sector specific support for the travel industry! U shut us down, forced viable businesses 2 close and drove talent away from the sector. Now you want to blame us for the airport chaos which you could have helped to avoid. Shame on U!
— Gemma Antrobus (@LuxuryTravelGem) June 1, 2022
• Meanwhile, Eurostar warned passengers that its stations are busy on Wednesday (June 1), because of issues with French authority control systems.
Our stations are very busy today. Passport and security checks are taking longer than usual due to issues with French authority control systems. Please arrive at the ticket gates at the time shown on your ticket as normal. Thank you for your understanding.
— Eurostar (@Eurostar) June 1, 2022
More: Government using aviation ‘as a punch bag’ to distract from own failings