Mass flight cancellations and diversions mar start of peak month for airline passengers

August has begun with severe disruption for many airline passengers. Thousands of travellers have had their flights cancelled as airlines battle with storms across Europe and air-traffic control restrictions.

At least 60 British Airways flights have been cancelled on Friday, following severe disruption on Thursday. Up to 10,000 BA passengers are affected, with multiple departures from London Heathrow to Toulouse and Milan among the dozens of cancellations.

To and from London City airport, British Airways has grounded flights serving Palma, Glasgow and Berlin, while the BA cancellations at Gatwick include long flights to Agadir and Heraklion in Crete.

Under air passengers’ rights rules, travellers are entitled to be flown to their destination as soon as possible and provided with meals and accommodation as appropriate until that happens.

A spokesperson for British Airways said: “Like all airlines, due to restrictions imposed by air-traffic control as a result of adverse weather across the UK and Europe, we’ve made some adjustments to our schedule.

“We’ve apologised to our customers for the disruption to their travel plans, and our teams are working to get them to their destinations as quickly as possible.”

Also at Gatwick, easyJet has so far cancelled 14 flights, including links to “niche” airports such as Toulon, Pula and Tivat, which have few alternative departures.

An easyJet spokesperson said: “Due to ongoing adverse weather conditions and air traffic control restrictions across Europe, some flights have been affected. As these weather conditions set to continue today, airlines expect a further impact today.

“While this is outside of our control, we are sorry for the inconvenience this will cause. We are doing all we can to minimise the impact for our customers, providing those on cancelled flights with a refund or free transfer to an alternative flight as well as hotel accommodation and meals for those who require them.”

Many passengers experienced long delays on Thursday. Passengers on easyJet flight 8744 from Hurghada in Egypt to London Gatwick arrived about six hours behind schedule. Their flight was delayed leaving the Red Sea resort, which meant the crew could not complete the flight within permitted hours. Instead, they diverted to Milan Malpensa, where a replacement crew was due to meet the aircraft. But they themselves were delayed leaving Gatwick.

An easyJet spokesperson said: “We can confirm that flight EZY8744 from Hurghada to London Gatwick was initially delayed due to air-traffic control restrictions leading to the crew reaching their maximum legal operating hours and so the flight operated via Milan in order for a replacement crew to continue operating the flight to Gatwick, where it arrived earlier this morning.

“Unfortunately the replacement crew’s flight was also impacted by air-traffic control restrictions, which led to a further delay in Milan.

“While this was outside of our control we are sorry for the inconvenience this delay will have caused.”

The most bizarre diversion of the night was an Air Canada flight from Halifax to London Heathrow. The Boeing 737 Max reached the eastern end of Newfoundland and then turned west to Montreal – meaning that passengers ended the day 400 miles further away from London than when they began.

Air Canada has not yet responded to The Independent’s enquiry about the cause and consequences of the diversion.