Chaos at Heathrow airport continues, as a further 30 flights were cancelled from Thursday morning’s schedule due to passenger numbers exceeding the airport’s capacity.
Passengers affected by the cancellations are expected to be rebooked onto another flight outside of peak times, meaning it may still be possible that they can fly out today.
Many passengers of British Airways, which holds more than half of the airline slots at the London airport, complained about cancellations on social media.
"We are expecting higher passenger numbers in today's morning peak than the airport currently has capacity to serve, and so to keep everyone safe we have asked airlines to remove 30 flights from the morning peak for today only,” said a Heathrow spokesperson.
Customers who were affected by the cancellations should have been contacted by their airline in advance, but some passengers did not find out until they arrived at the UK’s largest airport.
"We apologise for the impact this has on travel plans,” the Heathrow spokesperson added, quoted in Sky News.
"We are working hard to ensure everyone has a smooth journey through Heathrow this summer, and the most important thing is to make sure that all service providers at the airport have enough resources to meet demand."
Despite claims from the airport that it is working hard to ensure everyone has a smooth journey, many passengers have complained at the last minute cancellations and lack of customer service.
Travel writer and broadcaster Andy Mossack tweeted that there was "total chaos" and "zero customer service" at the airport on Thursday morning.
Total chaos at Heathrow this morning. BA flights cancelled and zero customer service! pic.twitter.com/K3hRtiviYJ
— andy mossack (@andymossy) June 30, 2022
Another customer, according to the BBC, queued for four hours only to find out his flight had been cancelled at the check-in desk without prior notification, with many others complaining about poor customer service and a lack of help when trying to rebook their flights.
Affected airlines include British Airways, owned by International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (LSE:IAG), Virgin Atlantic, Air France, American Airlines and many more.
Airports across Europe are also struggling to manage staff shortages, according to John Strickland, director at JLS Consulting. The manpower shortage is a “complex and diverse problem certainly not confined to UK airports and airlines.”
“We are seeing significant problems across the European sector including The Netherlands, Germany, Ireland and Scandinavia to name just a few.”
Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, for example, has had pilots offer to assist with security checks in order to speed up the service.
“There is no quick fix and advance cancellations of some services is the less-than-ideal short-term solution.”
“Sadly, that inconveniences customers and costs airlines precious peak season revenue too.”