CHAOS ON TRAINS AND PLANES
Misery as 150 UK flights are scrapped
TRAVELLERS faced more chaos on the eve of the Platinum Jubilee bank holiday weekend.
More than 150 UK flights were cancelled yesterday and passengers were forced to wait in long queues at airports.
In Edinburgh, 19 flights were scrapped just 24 hours after long queues at the capital’s airport and Glasgow airport.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and minister Robert Courts were due to meet aviation leaders yesterday to discuss the problems.
EasyJet cancelled at least 31 flights at Gatwick.
British Airways axed 124 short-haul flights at Heathrow, but the airline said passengers were given advance notice.
Tui Airways is continuing to cancel six daily flights at Manchester Airport, which represents a quarter of its schedule.
One easyJet passenger tweeted a photograph from Manchester Airport at 4am showing a long queue of people in a car park outside Terminal 1.
He described the situation as “carnage”, adding: “Took two hours 45 minutes to get through – most of that was bag drop. Now on the aircraft but due to shortage of ground crew, there’s going to be another delay of approximately 50 minutes.”
Another easyJet passenger said they had to wait for two hours and 40 minutes to receive their luggage after landing at Gatwick Airport shortly before 3am.
The aviation industry is suffering from staff shortages after letting thousands of people go during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Shapps claimed travel firms have “seriously oversold flights and holidays relative to their capacity to deliver”.
Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab accused airlines of a “lack of preparation” ahead of the holiday surge.