Airline passengers faced a further disruption on Thursday after a computer crash forced easyJet to cancel some 200 flights across Europe.
The airline canceled a number of flights due to take-off between 1pm and 3pm, affecting dozens of round-trip flights to UK airports, including its largest base in Gatwick.
EasyJet, the UK’s largest airline by number of passengers, said it had fixed the problem by mid-afternoon, but that there were significant delays on other flights. The cause of the problem was not immediately known.
Passengers from Manchester, Luton and Bristol were among the tens of thousands affected.
An easyJet spokesman said: “The previous problems with the computer systems have now been fixed. they may still suffer some disruption in the next few hours.
“We advise customers traveling with us to continue to consult Flight Tracker to find out the status of their flight before heading to the airport. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
EasyJet’s problems are the latest to hit the aviation industry, which has struggled to cope with rising travel demand following the lifting of restrictions at the end of the pandemic.
EasyJet was forced to cancel hundreds of flights last month due to staff illness as the coronavirus continued to affect airlines and airports, although passengers were allowed to enter the UK without restrictions. .
British Airways also decided to pre-emptively cancel around 100 flights a day by the end of October to ensure that it could operate its schedule efficiently.
Long queues have persisted at airports since Easter, and Manchester in particular has seen chaotic scenes and delays due to a lack of key staff.
Airports have recruited thousands more on jobs such as security and ground handling, but many employees were fired or chose to leave when Covid’s restrictions effectively halted most foreign travel. New recruits have to go through training and sometimes lengthy background checks before joining.
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The latest problem came the day the government pledged to tighten passenger rights, with regard to the cancellation or delay of air travel. A new aviation passenger charter will be launched this year, as part of an aviation strategy published by the Department of Transportation, entitled Fit to Fly.
He promised to support the airlines in the recovery and also offered a possible olive branch at Heathrow, which had been left to carry out its own legal battle to maintain the official government policy that supported its third runway, after opponents won a judicial review.
The strategy, presented at Heathrow on Thursday by Aviation Minister Robert Courts, said the government would “support growth in airport capacity when justified” as part of a 10-point plan to support to the wider industry.