British Airways will cut more flights during the crucial summer holiday months, as airlines and airports across Europe struggle to keep up with strong post-pandemic demand from holidaymakers.

The airline, in a statement to NBC News, said it was cancelling 10,300 more short-haul flights until October end.

“The whole aviation industry continues to face into significant challenges and we’re completely focussed on building resilience into our operation to give customers the certainty they deserve,” the airline said in its statement.

“The Government recently decided to give the whole industry slot alleviation to minimise potential disruption this summer. While taking further action is not where we wanted to be, it’s the right thing to do for our customers and our colleagues. This new flexibility means that we can further reduce our schedule and consolidate some of our quieter services so that we can protect as many of our holiday flights as possible.

“While most of our flights are unaffected and the majority of customers will get away as planned, we don’t underestimate the impact this will have and we’re doing everything we can to get their travel plans back on track. We’re in touch to apologise and offer rebooking options for new flights with us or another airline as soon as possible or issue a full refund.”

Britain last month temporarily relaxed rules around airport slots to allow airlines to devise realistic flight schedules and avoid last minute cancellations in light of staff shortages.

“This new flexibility means that we can further reduce our schedule and consolidate some of our quieter services so that we can protect as many of our holiday flights as possible,” a BA spokesperson said in an email.

Source: Civil Aviation Authority-Qatar