EasyJet cancels 1,700 flights this summer in the face of air traffic control uncertainties

2023-07-10 17:55:19

British airline EasyJet has canceled around 1,700 flights by the end of the summer due to air traffic control restrictions in Europe, mostly departing from or arriving at London’s Gatwick airport.

“The whole sector is experiencing difficult conditions this summer with more constrained airspace due to the war in Ukraine (…) and potential new strikes” by air traffic controllers, the company said in a statement sent to AFP.

90,000 flights over the period

“We have therefore made some preventive adjustments to our program” but these are minor changes, insists the company, while “more than 90,000 flights” EasyJet will fly over this period. The company specifies that 95% of the customers concerned already have a seat on another flight.

EasyJet does not name the French air traffic controllers, but the strikes led by them in recent months against the pension reform frustrate the companies often forced to circumvent the country, had indicated in June the leader of the International Air Transport Association ( Iata), Willie Walsh, their main global organization.

EasyJet flight cancellations are not linked to pilot or crew shortages according to the company. A lack of staff in the sector had resulted in the last year before the summer peak in scenes of chaos at British airports, endless queues and many canceled flights.