British Airways extends cuts, scrapping 8% of winter flights

BRITISH Airways (BA) will scrap about 5,000 round-trip flights this winter after cancelling about 13 per cent of its schedule this summer due to a staffing shortage and extended curbs on capacity at its London Heathrow hub.

The carrier, owned by IAG, said it was adjusting its winter schedule including consolidating some of its short-haul flights to destinations with multiple services. The cuts amount to about 8 per cent of the timetable for the period.

BA will also cancel 629 round trips through Oct 29 after Heathrow extended its 100,000 passenger-a-day cap to rein in chaos that the airport operator said was due to ground-handling firms having insufficient staff.

About 80 per cent of BA’s 120,637 flights this winter are short-haul and Geneva is scheduled to be the carrier’s top destination during the period, followed by Amsterdam, Barcelona and Edinburgh, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.

While airlines across Europe have struggled with staffing shortages, BA has been among the hardest hit after dismissing 10,000 workers at the peak of the Covid pandemic. The carrier was forced to offer some staff members what amounts to a 13 per cent raise in an agreement with unions that headed off the threat of a strike.

BA said that customers affected by the changes can opt for alternative flights with the carrier or another airline or seek a refund. The carrier plans to operate about 290 daily round trips from Heathrow this winter. BLOOMBERG