Mass flight cancellations mar start of peak month for airline passengers

August has begun with severe disruption for many airline passengers. Thousands of travellers have had their flights cancelled as airlines battle with storms across Europe and air-traffic control restrictions.

At least 60 British Airways flights have been cancelled on Friday, following severe disruption on Thursday. Up to 10,000 BA passengers are affected, with multiple departures from London Heathrow to Toulouse and Milan among the dozens of cancellations.

To and from London City airport, British Airways has grounded flights serving Palma, Glasgow and Berlin, while the BA cancellations at Gatwick include long flights to Agadir and Heraklion in Crete.

Under air passengers’ rights rules, travellers are entitled to be flown to their destination as soon as possible and provided with meals and accommodation as appropriate until that happens.

A spokesperson for British Airways said: “Like all airlines, due to restrictions imposed by air-traffic control as a result of adverse weather across the UK and Europe, we’ve made some adjustments to our schedule.

“We’ve apologised to our customers for the disruption to their travel plans, and our teams are working to get them to their destinations as quickly as possible.”

Also at Gatwick, easyJet has so far cancelled 14 flights, including links to “niche” airports such as Toulon, Pula and Tivat, which have few alternative departures.

An easyJet spokesperson said: “Due to ongoing adverse weather conditions and air traffic control restrictions across Europe, some flights have been affected. As these weather conditions set to continue today, airlines expect a further impact today.

“While this is outside of our control, we are sorry for the inconvenience this will cause. We are doing all we can to minimise the impact for our customers, providing those on cancelled flights with a refund or free transfer to an alternative flight as well as hotel accommodation and meals for those who require them.”

Many passengers experienced long delays on Thursday. Passengers on easyJet flight 8744 from Hurghada in Egypt to London Gatwick arrived about six hours behind schedule. Their flight was delayed leaving the Red Sea resort, which meant the crew could not complete the flight within permitted hours. Instead, they diverted to Milan Malpensa, where a replacement crew was due to meet the aircraft. But…