British airline EasyJet has canceled around 1,700 flights by the end of the summer due to air traffic control restrictions in Europe, mostly departing from or arriving at London’s Gatwick airport. “The entire sector is experiencing difficult conditions this summer with more constrained airspace due to the war in Ukraine (…) and potential new strikes” by air traffic controllers, the company said in a statement sent to the AFP.
“We have therefore made some preventive adjustments to our program”, but these are minor changes, insists the company, while “more than 90,000 EasyJet flights” are scheduled over this period. The company specifies that 95% of the customers concerned have already obtained a seat on another flight.
EasyJet does not name the French air traffic controllers, but the strikes led by them in recent months against the pension reform frustrate the companies often forced to circumvent the country, had indicated in June the leader of the International Air Transport Association ( Iata), Willie Walsh, their main global organization.
EasyJet’s flight cancellations are not linked to pilot or crew shortages, according to the company. A lack of staff in the sector had resulted last year, before the summer peak, in scenes of chaos at British airports, endless queues and many canceled flights.