easyJet has been forced to cancel around 100 flights on Monday, blaming staff absences due to COVID. The airline said the cancellations make up only a fraction of its daily schedule of 1,645 flights.

Staff shortages lead to easyJet cancelations

Amid high infection rates in the UK and across Europe, easyJet has scrapped approximately 100 flights on Monday due to staff shortages.

An easyJet spokesperson said,

"As a result of the current high rates of COVID infections across Europe, like all businesses, easyJet is experiencing higher than usual levels of employee sickness. Unfortunately, it has been necessary to make some additional cancellations for today and tomorrow. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause."

62 of the flights are UK-based, most of which were canceled on short notice on Saturday. easyJet said it has attempted to cover staff shortages by rostering additional standby crew.

The situation comes at an inopportune time for travelers as the busy Easter school holiday period begins. easyJet added,

"We have taken action to mitigate this through the rostering of additional standby crew this weekend. However, with the current levels of sickness, we have also decided to make some cancellations in advance which were focused on consolidating flights where we have multiple frequencies, so customers have more options to rebook their travel, often on the same day."

In total, easyJet has canceled over 220 flights since Friday as it battles staff shortages. The majority of easyJet flights on Monday are still going ahead, with around 100 of 1,645 scheduled flights affected by cancelations.

Some customers left stranded

Some travelers have been left stranded after many flights were canceled on short notice. Simon Rudkins, 50, said the airline canceled his flight back to the UK from the Alps with less than 10 hours' notice. Rudkins, as quoted by The Independent, said,

"We called easyJet asking for alternatives. We basically got told ‘no, there’s nothing, no flights at all. The best you can do is fly tomorrow.' I probably wouldn’t go near easyJet (again). Not because of the fact they’ve had to cancel a flight, but because they don’t care and there was no explanation given."

Shortages affecting airports too

Passengers across the UK, including those at Heathrow Airport and Manchester Airport, experienced long queues and delays over the weekend, which have been partly attributed to staff shortages.

A Manchester Airport spokesperson said,

"As we recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, our whole industry is facing staff shortages and recruitment challenges. We are exploring a number of short-term measures to deliver the best possible service we can, such as the use of agency staff and different ways in which existing colleagues can support our operation."

There have been reports of travelers missing their flights due to delays at check-in and security. Additionally, passengers in baggage reclaim halls have waited hours for their bags to show up.

The problems have also been attributed to lengthy COVID checks and issues with e-gate passport checkpoints, along with higher passenger numbers during the busy Easter period.

A Heathrow Airport spokesperson added,

"Due to high passenger volumes and the COVID documentation checks still required by many end destinations, Terminal 2 departures have experienced some congestion today."

Simple Flying explored why passengers are still facing chaos at Heathrow Airport as we enter the 'post-COVID' era.

Have your travel plans been affected by cancelations? Did you experience any of the travel chaos over the weekend? Let us know in the comments.

Source: The Independent