British Airways cancellations set to last through June

According to the Daily Mail, the IAG subsidiary had already cancelled more than 1,000 flights over the last three weeks.

On Wednesday, it emerged the airline’s chief Sean Doyle told staff in a video message that schedules would continue to be cut until at least the end of June, adding a month onto what was previously flagged.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps told Parliament’s Transport Committee that, while Covid-19 infections were forcing many staff to book off work, airlines had also underestimated post-pandemic demand for travel.

Shapps told the committee he had met with Doyle earlier in the week to discuss the situation.

“He told me that they were proactively, in advance now, slimming down their programme in order to be able to meet the demand,” he said.

“He also explained that the problems were actually growing pains in lots of different directions, very, very quickly.”