Airlines can ill afford the damage mounting flight cancellations are doing to customer confidence

Expect an announcement any day now that Britain’s biggest budget airline – easyJet – will axe thousands of summer flights in a bid to keep the rest on track, writes Simon Calder

At least 60 UK flights were grounded by easyJet alone on Tuesday (PA)

With half-term hostilities over, I fondly imagined the airlines would promptly get home the many travellers caught up in the hundreds of short-notice flight cancellations over the bank holiday weekend, then regroup to face the summer ahead.

Instead, by Tuesday afternoon the cancellation crisis was getting even worse – with at least 60 UK flights being grounded by easyJet alone, leaving an estimated 10,000 people in the wrong place. As I totted up the cancelled flights at Gatwick, Luton, Bristol and Scottish airports, a text arrived from a friend. “Trying to book a flight to Athens for July. There’s a Jet2 direct from Birmingham. Too risky? Should I play it safe and go with Lufthansa via Frankfurt?”

The message sums up the damage being done to the reputation of the UK’s aviation industry – which before the coronavirus pandemic was genuinely world-beating – and to passengers’ confidence.

I assured my friend that she could confidently book the flight. Two airlines stand out for the sheer scale of their cancellations: every day, British Airways and easyJet are cancelling 10 per cent, sometimes more, of flights to and from their main bases at London Heathrow and Gatwick respectively. Both appear to be systemically short of resources – in particular of cabin crew, and sometimes, pilots. Rival budget carrier Wizz Air has its share of woes born of overpromising a bumper summer schedule before making sure its flying ducks were in a row.

In contrast, Jet2, along with Ryanair, is having a creditably good summer. Yet the question from my friend reveals the extent to which apprehension is displacing anticipation, and how headlines about mass cancellations are tainting the whole aviation industry.

Airlines need no reminder of the cost of cancelling even a single round trip; the compensation liability alone typically amounts to £100,000. At present, easyJet is grounding dozens of such trips each day.

The reputational damage to the company is much harder to quantify. I would expect an announcement any day now saying that Britain’s biggest budget airline will axe thousands of summer flights now in a bid to keep the rest on track. Infuriating for passengers booked in July and August who have to switch departures – but the least bad of the options available.