Outrage as flights cancelled

HOLIDAY HAVOC SEES AIRCRAFT GROUNDED

Reporter RYANAIR cancelled two Newcastle flights this weekend after it announced it would be axing 50 flights a day for the next six weeks.

The budget airline’s chief marketing officer said the company was “working hard to fix” the problem, after it announced a 2% reduction in scheduled flights until the end of October.

The move affected two Newcastle flights yesterday, one heading to Wroclaw, Poland and one coming back from the same location.

The services had been due to depart at 12.30pm and arrive at 12.05pm respectively.

The full list of services affected over the next few weeks has not yet been published.

Customers are being told their flights are operating as usual unless they receive an email.

Kenny Jacobs, chief marketing officer, said: “We apologise to all affected customers for these cancellations. We have messed up in the planning of pilot holidays and we’re working hard to fix that.”

Ryanair said air traffic control (ATC) delays and strikes, bad weather and a backlog of annual leave to be taken by pilots and cabin crew had led to punctuality falling to below 80% over the last two weeks.

A spokesman said this figure was “unacceptable” and the company has apologised to affected customers, who it said will be offered alternative flights or refunds.

Some customers said last-minute cancellations had left them out-ofpocket due to non-refundable accommodation costs, or with no choice but to book expensive alternative flights or transport.

Others said they had been left stranded in their holiday destination and many urged Ryanair to publish a list of all flight cancellations.

Writing on the airline’s Facebook page, Maria Joanna Suquitana said guests travelling to Italy for her brother’s wedding had flights cancelled just hours before departure.

Karen Naughton Brill said her daughter’s 21st birthday present of flights to Amsterdam had been “ruined” when they were cancelled with less than 12 hours’ notice.

Ryanair said an HR change had increased holiday allocations.

It said the daily cancellations account for less than 2% of its flights and it would use additional standby aircraft to restore punctuality.