London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

British Airways cancels 11% of flights during summer holiday peak to avoid airport disruption

British Airways cancels 11% of flights during summer holiday peak to avoid airport disruption

The airline has cut more services as it moves to ensure last-minute cancellations are kept to a minimum after the chaos witnessed at airports this year.
British Airways has cancelled 11% of flights during the summer holiday peak in the hope of avoiding a repeat of the airport disruption witnessed earlier this year.

The airline, one of the worst affected by post-pandemic staff shortages this year, said it was taking further "pre-emptive" action to prevent disruption for passengers and build greater resilience in its flying schedules.

It follows a torrid reopening of the skies after the pandemic for most airports and airlines that have struggled to meet high demand for international travel.

BA said on Tuesday it would reduce its April-October schedule by 11%.

It had reported in May that 10% of flights would go over the period - equal to 8,000 round trips.

"As the entire aviation industry continues to face into the most challenging period in its history, regrettably it has become necessary to make some further reductions," the airline said.

"We're in touch with customers to apologise and offer to rebook them or issue a full refund," the statement concluded.

UK airports and airlines are not alone in struggling to meet demand for summer travel as the disruption is being mirrored across Europe and made worse, for UK travellers, by staff shortages at destination airports.

Heathrow and Gatwick have enacted capacity limits in a bid to ensure they can cope with passenger volumes.

Peak travel periods, such as Easter and weekends, have witnessed the worst problems to date and airlines were told by the government last week that they should run "realistic" summer schedules to avoid repeats of the chaos.

There is a temporary amnesty in place to allow airlines the freedom to adjust flight schedules without the penalty of losing landing slots.

The deadline for making the cuts ends on Friday and could yet see BA cut more services from its summer schedule.

The airline is also facing down the prospect of a strike by workers at Heathrow, threatening a new front in disruption for passengers.

BA, along with easyJet, have cancelled the most services by UK airlines but those flights have mostly been on high frequency routes - those with more than one daily flight.

The Telegraph newspaper reported late on Monday that BA was cancelling more than 650 flights from Heathrow and Gatwick airports to destinations including holiday spots in Spain, Portugal and Greece, affecting up to 105,000 travellers.

BA has not commented directly on the accuracy of the report.

Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said of the airline's plans: "While it is encouraging to see British Airways taking steps that will spare some passengers from last-minute flight cancellations, it is concerning that months on from its first round of cancellations BA still seems unsure as to how many flights it can operate each day - especially while still taking new bookings.

"Which? recently reported British Airways to the Civil Aviation Authority for neglecting to tell passengers about their right to compensation and failing to reroute customers at the earliest opportunity.

"The CAA must take action if BA fails to meet its legal obligations amid this latest round of cancellations."
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×