European airports are struggling with delays, strikes, and staff shortages. Tens of thousands of flights have already been canceled since April. Airports Council International predicts summer delays are unavoidable at two-thirds of European airports. In July, travelers in Germany and the UK were in the worst position.
– Air traffic is quickly recovering, we have restored 86 percent. capacity since 2019 (i.e. before the Covid-19 pandemic), in addition, most of the traffic has moved to the west of Ukraine, said in May the director of network management at ACI Jacopo Passinotti, which unites, among other things, more than 500 European airports.
Travelers are fighting chaos around the world, but in Europe, the situation is extremely bad. Compared to the United States, more than twice as many flights on the Old Continent were canceled between April and June, according to RadarBox.com, an air traffic tracking company. Between April 1 and June 29, the ten worst airports in Europe in this respect canceled 64.1 thousand flights.
Staff shortages and strikes paralyze airports
Many airports and airlines are struggling with severe staffing issues that have forced them to cancel flights, and have also had to contend with strikes by both airport employees and airlines, including British Airways, Ryanair, EasyJet, and Lufthansa in recent weeks.
The problems in this sector are caused by the fact that employment has also decreased, as the number of flights decreased during the pandemic. Globally, 2.3 million people have been laid off, with ground handling and security checks being the worst, according to the lobbying group Air Transport Action Group.
As flight demand returns to pre-pandemic levels, airports are running out of baggage, security, and cleaning services, and airports are unable to handle scheduled flights.
U.S. airlines have also been cutting staff during the pandemic, but most airlines, including major airlines American, Delta, United, and SouthWest, began hiring employees that could take months to train as early as mid-2021.
Where is the worst?
Data compiled by the aviation company Official Aviation Guide showed the worst airports in Europe. From July 1 to 9, the worst was Zaventem Airport in Brussels, where 72 percent of flights were delayed and 2.5 percent canceled. The following places were taken by, among others, Frankfurt Airports (68% delayed and 7.8% canceled), Paris-Charles de Gaulle (62% delayed and 3.1% canceled), and Amsterdam-Schiphol (61% and 5.2 % canceled).
Airlines cancel thousands of flights; some notify passengers the same day, while others significantly reduce their schedules in advance. British Airways made headlines last week after announcing the cancellation of 10,300 flights from August to the end of October, just a day after 1,500 flights were canceled mostly in July.
An analysis of Mabrian’s travel data shows that British Airways has overtaken Turkish Airlines for the highest percentage of European flights canceled in the first half of July.
German low-cost carrier Eurowings topped the list with 1,007 canceled flights, representing 11.8% of all scheduled flights.