The ability for airlines and airports to absorb surging demand is in the spotlight again, as British Airways announced the cancellation of 10,300 flights between August and October, impacting one million travellers.
In May, BA reduced its summer schedule by 10%, while the new cancellations represent a further 13% per cent of flights. In the past two weeks the carrier cancelled more than 1,000 flights due to take off this month.
In total, BA has nixed 4.5 million seats which it planned on flying through October.
"The whole aviation industry continues to face significant challenges and we're completely focused on building resilience into our operation to give customers the certainty they deserve," British Airways said in a statement.
"This new flexibility means that we can further reduce our schedule and consolidate some of our quieter services so that we can protect as many of our holiday flights as possible. While taking further action is not where we wanted to be, it's the right thing to do for our customers and our colleagues."
The airline points out that "the majority of customers will get away as planned," but says "we don't underestimate the impact this will have and we're doing everything we can to get their travel plans back on track."
The UK's flag carrier is facing other headwinds, including potential strike action by hundreds of Heathrow airport customer service agents later this month. This group saw their salaries cut by 10% during the pandemic. It wants pay reinstated to previous levels permanently, but so far British Airways is offering a one-time bonus payment.
Skyrocketing demand, labour shortages among the security and customs workforce, and time-consuming COVID measures are being blamed for airport chaos here in Canada and in other major markets. Both Air Canada and WestJet have reduced summer flights in an attempt to ease the congestion.
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