Cancelled flights - live: Spain and Portugal likely to be worst affected by Gatwick cuts

Downing Street ‘welcomes' Gatwick decision to cap flights

A Downing Street spokesperson said on Friday that the government welcomed Gatwick’s announcement that it will cap the number of flights it handles during June and July, with a spokesman saying the move will “provide certainty for passengers ahead of time”.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, the chief executive of Advantage Travel Partnership - which represents travel firms - also praised the move, calling it a “proactive” strategy.

“Gatwick’s decision to cap flights for July and August provides a proactive solution to addressing some of the challenging scenes we saw over the course of May half-term, ahead of a busy summer season in July and August,” she told the BBC.

“It’s important to note that in the vast number of cases travellers are travelling as planned with no disruption and most flights will not be cancelled due to this cap.

“By imposing this flight cap on departures from Gatwick in advance of the summer season it reduces the risk of any last-minute disruptions and remains the duty of airlines to communicate any changes in good time.

“I am confident that everyone across the travel ecosystem is working very hard to support their customers and provide the best possible service for anyone travelling this summer.”

“Certainty is what we all need and what we are desperately trying to do now in rebuilding the industry is to make sure we can give certainty back to customers,” added Ms Bue-Said.

Lucy Thackray17 June 2022 15:56

What have Gatwick’s airlines said about the airport’s plans to cull some flights?

Following Gatwick Airport’s announcement that it will cap the number of flights it handles during June and July, easyJet told the BBC it was “aware” of the announcement by Gatwick Airport and was “reviewing the details”.

“We expect to be able to re-accommodate the majority of customers should their flight be affected by the cap,” it said.

The spokesperson also voiced their support for the airport, saying: “We recognise the need for Gatwick Airport to do this... so all airlines can provide reliable services for their customers.”

In contrast, Ryanair said it “did not have any plans to cancel flights from Gatwick”, adding: “Gatwick should be looking to the airlines who are already making mass cancellations across the UK for these cuts.”

Wizz Air and Tui, which both fly from Gatwick, have yet to comment on the capacity caps.

Lucy Thackray17 June 2022 15:22

What are my rights if my flight is cancelled?

Your consumer rights vary depending on whether your flight was cancelled by the airline more or fewer than 14 days before your day of travel - and whether the airline is blaming “extraordinary circumstances” for the cancellation (a relatively rare circumstance).

If your flight was due to leave within 14 days of you receiving the cancellation notice, your airline owes you compensation (between £220 and £350 depending on the distance your flight covers).

Your airline should also get you to your destination on the same day of travel - either on its own next flight, or with a rival carrier if there is no availability. You can also opt to receive a full refund.

If your flight is cancelled more than 14 days in advance, you are entitled to a full refund.

Here is a full breakdown of your consumer rights when faced with a cancellation:

Lucy Thackray17 June 2022 14:51

When will I find out if my July/August booking from Gatwick is cancelled?

The cull of flights at Gatwick airport – which could ground as many as 50 on busy days in peak summer – is initially being handled by Airport Coordination Ltd (ACL), the body that assigns take-off and landing “slots” at Gatwick and other hubs.

As by far the biggest carrier at Gatwick, easyJet (and its long-suffering passengers) will bear the brunt of the cancelled flights, with British Airways, Wizz Air, Vueling and Tui also expected to ground departures.

Smaller airlines with no more than a handful of flights each day will not be expected to cancel. While ACL will specify the number of departures and arrivals that must be cut each day, it is entirely up to the airlines to decide which routes to cut.

I am sure the carriers are already studying their schedules carefully, to see which flights could be cancelled with minimum impact on passengers and revenue.

They will want to get notice out to affected travellers as soon as possible, in order to maximise the time to make other arrangements.

It may be that they decide to stagger the procedure – for example by making progressive cancellations first for early July, the for late July, early August and late August.

(Getty Images)

Simon Calder17 June 2022 14:27

Gatwick slammed for ‘drip feeding’ information about cancelled flights

Consumer champion Which? has criticised Gatwick airport for its communication over the upcoming cancellation of flights.

Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: “Reducing the number of flights operating this summer may well be sensible in providing a more reliable service and fewer last-minute cancellations, but it certainly wasn’t sensible to make this announcement without first agreeing with airlines operating from Gatwick which flights would be cancelled.

“Passengers with trips booked are now in a panic about whether their flight will be one of those disrupted. The airport should have worked with airlines to confirm and communicate all changes to customers first, as this drip feeding of information is hugely unhelpful.

“Gatwick must provide clarity on which flights are being cut, and in turn airlines need to be upfront with those passengers affected about their right to be rebooked at the earliest opportunity, including on services from other airlines.”

Helen Coffey17 June 2022 13:44

Which flights from London Gatwick will be culled?

When choosing the flights to fillet, the airlines will be keen to minimise the amount of revenue they lose – and reduce the likelihood they will end up having to pay a fortune for tickets on rival airlines for their disappointed passengers.

For easyJet, Wizz Air and British Airways’ EuroFlyer, the most obvious flights will be high-frequency links such as London to the key Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol and Algarve airports: Alicante, Malaga and Faro respectively. At weekends easyJet has six or seven flights a day, and removing one or two from the schedules is probably feasible.

Longer, rarer services such as to individual Greek islands are much less likely to be culled: they tend to generate more revenue, and there are fewer options for rebooking passengers.

Although British Airways has a big long-haul operation at Gatwick, I would be very surprised to see any of these high-revenue intercontinental flights grounded. It may share some of the pain with Vueling, its Spanish low-cost sibling in the IAG conglomerate.

Domestic services will be high on the list of possible cancellations: they tend to earn a lot less than international links, and there are terrestrial options – notably the trains, which hopefully in July and August will not be strikebound.

Finally, high on the easyJet list will be northern European cities such as Amsterdam, Hamburg and Berlin, which tend to rely for profitability on high-spending, late-booking business connections.

Simon Calder17 June 2022 13:19

Gatwick Express rail link halted by track failure

While Gatwick is flowing fairly smoothly, anyone arriving at the Sussex airport and hoping to travel on the main line to London Victoria cannot expect a smooth journey.

A “track circuit failure” near Selhurst in south London has halted northbound Gatwick Express and Southern trains, with no indication of when they might be moving again.

This will soon have knock-on effect, leading to the delay and possible cancellation of southbound trains; airline passengers heading for Gatwick are urged to allow extra time.

Rail services to and from London Bridge, Blackfriars and St Pancras International are at present unaffected, though they are likely to be more crowded than usual.

Simon Calder17 June 2022 12:58

Will we see similar moves at the other big UK airports?

After London Gatwick announced it will cap flights in the peak months of July and August, passengers are asking: “Will we see similar moves at the other big UK airports?”

Simon Calder responds: Gatwick is a special case, having seen the largest dip in traffic of the four big airports and the fastest rebound.

The busiest airport, Heathrow, already has unofficial mass cancellations in place, with British Airways grounding 120 short-haul flights (10 per cent of schedule) daily. The reason this doesn’t get talked about is because passengers are told weeks or even months ahead.

What with the Asian market not yet back, and Terminal 4 freshly reopened to ease some of the squeeze, Heathrow is not feeling especially stressed – though there will be some gentle culling, particularly on Fridays when the airport is always at its busiest.

Manchester airport, third-biggest, is coping well now – Tui has had a ground handling issue with Swissport which is being improved daily.

London Stansted is not having any significant issues – the only cancellations are of the occasional easyJet Scottish/NI flight rather than anything on Ryanair or Jet2. But if the threatened Ryanair strikes start causing problems later this month, it could be a different story.

Simon Calder17 June 2022 12:35

Why are airlines cancelling so many flights?

Airline bosses have given a range of reasons for the cancellations and cuts to their schedules, but the overwhelming one is a shortage of staff.

Collectively, UK airlines cut about 30,000 jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the travel shutdown and strict UK travel restrictions prevented the majority of flights from operating.

Now they are trying to “scale up” by recruiting new staff, but for many, it hasn’t happened quickly enough.

Oliver Richardson of the Unite union says: “When you look at who is performing worst, it correlates with the companies that carried out the most redundancies.

“Ryanair agreed on no redundancies and a different position was taken by British Airways who lost 10,000 staff through redundancies. They got rid of too many people.”

Ryanair has largely operated its planned schedule during spring and summer.

Several airline bosses have hinted that delays in getting new staff approved have meant not enough crew on hand to operate their full planned schedules.

Read The Independent’s full explainer:

Lucy Thackray17 June 2022 11:39

World’s best airports revealed

The world’s best airports have been announced in the annual Skytrax World Airport Awards, with Qatar’s Doha Hamad International taking the top spot for the second year running.

Meanwhile, the UK’s main aviation hub, Heathrow Airport, slipped out of the top 10 entirely, going from number eight in last year’s rankings to number 13 in the latest list.

The list is based on customer votes, compiled from a customer satisfaction survey each year, which asks passengers to rank the facilities at 550 airports worldwide.

See the full list:

Lucy Thackray17 June 2022 11:15

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