More than 10,000 passengers stranded after BA and easyJet flight cancellations

Passengers flying to and from the UK’s two busiest airports on major airlines have once again suffered dozens of cancellations, blamed on air traffic control (ATC) delays and poor weather conditions across Europe.

EasyJet at London Gatwick and British Airways at London Heathrow each cancelled 32 short-haul flights.

EasyJet cancellations include flights to and from Lanzarote, Budapest and Venice, as well as two return flights to Belfast International Airport and Edinburgh.

One passenger, Tom McCarthy, wrote on X: “To make us sit on a plane for 3 hours and then cancel the flight and give us no alternative is an absolute disgrace! Family holiday cancelled, now I’m no doubt going to have to fight tooth and nail for my refund and compensation!”

It appears that no compensation will be paid to passengers. The typical message from easyJet to passengers whose flights have been cancelled is: “We are sorry that your flight has been cancelled. This is due to air traffic control restrictions.”

“The disruption to your flight is beyond our control and is considered an extraordinary circumstance.”

Airlines can avoid paying hundreds of pounds in compensation if they can show that the cause of cancellations or prolonged delays was beyond their control.

At Heathrow, British Airways cancelled two return flights to Rome as well as services to Naples, Barcelona and Larnaca in Cyprus.

At least 10,000 easyJet and British Airways passengers wake up where they didn’t expect to be.

Under EU air passenger rights rules, carriers must provide alternative hotels, meals and flights as soon as possible.

“Due to air traffic control restrictions and adverse weather conditions, like other airlines we have had to make some changes to our schedule,” a British Airways spokesperson said.

“We know this will be frustrating for our customers and our teams are working hard to offer them alternative flights as soon as possible, with the vast majority already booked on flights that will fly later today.”

The Independent easyJet has also asked for comment on the cancellations, which follow hundreds of flights being grounded the previous weekend.

At each of the UK’s third and fourth largest airports, Manchester and London Stansted, only one flight was cancelled: an easyJet service to Copenhagen and an A-Jet departure to Ankara respectively.

Hundreds of other flights have been delayed across the UK and Europe.

Ryanair, Europe’s biggest budget airline, has not cancelled any UK flights. But the carrier has condemned what it calls “unacceptable” delays due to “repeated shortages of air traffic control staff across Europe”.

In a statement published on its website, it apologised to passengers for “the excessive flight delays caused by the European ATC staff shortages today, Monday 8 July, which are affecting all European airlines.

“ATC services, which benefited from the absence of disruption from the French air traffic controllers’ strike this summer, continue to underperform (despite flight volumes being 5% below 2019 levels) with repeated ‘staff shortages’.” Ryanair says one in six departures of its “first wave” – the first 579 flights – have been delayed due to staff shortages.

“These repeated flight delays due to poor air traffic control management are unacceptable,” Ryanair said.