Air travellers to and from the UK were stuck with major delays over the weekend as International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (LSE:IAG), easyJet PLC (LSE:EZJ) and Ryanair Holdings PLC (LSE:RYA) all cancelled flights due to weather and air traffic disruption.
More than thirty flights were cancelled at Gatwick and Heathrow with the disruption spilling into Monday.
In a statement, easyJet PLC (LSE:EZJ) said it operated around 1800 flights yesterday but some flights across Europe were “unfortunately disrupted due to the impact of adverse weather and air traffic control delays”.
“We have been doing everything possible to minimise the impact for our customers whose flights were affected, providing hotel accommodation and meals as well as a refund or a transfer to an alternative flight and are advising customers they will be reimbursed for expenses should they need to make their own arrangements,” said the airline.
Ryanair apologised for “excessive flight delays” on Monday caused by the European ATC “staff shortages”.
The airline said in a statement: “On Mon 8 Jul, 21% of Ryanair’s first wave departures (134 of 579 aircraft) were delayed due to ATC staff shortages. These repeated flight delays due to ATC mismanagement are unacceptable.
“We apologise to our passengers for these repeated ATC flight delays which are deeply regrettable but beyond Ryanair’s control.”
Airlines do not have to compensate customers if they can prove that delays or cancellations were caused by external issues such as air traffic problems.
British Airways and EasyJet are already embroiled in legal action about automatic compensation for hundreds of thousands of late flights since 2016 that, if they lose, could cost them more than £100 million in compensation
It would also be a precedent for claims against other airlines, said lawyers bringing the case.