Easyjet cancels 1,700 flights from July to September

British multinational low-cost airline Easyjet has confirmed it has cancelled 1,700 flights as people prepare to travel on their summer holidays.

The airline has axed flights during July, August and September, travelling to and from Gatwick airport, located near Crawley, West Sussex, 29.5 miles south of Central London.

Easyjet blamed constrained airspace over Europe and ongoing air traffic control difficulties, which are causing regular cancellations.

The company said 95 per cent of affected passengers had been rebooked onto alternative flights.

Easyjet announced the decision as many schools in England and Wales prepare to break-up for the summer holidays.

July is scheduled to record the highest number of UK flight departures since October 2019 before the Covid pandemic, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

It said the number of flights departing the UK would be 11 per cent higher than July last year.

EasyJet said its cancellations roughly represent the equivalent of one day's worth of flights. It will still operate about 90,000 journeys over the period.

A spokesperson for EasyJet said the whole airline industry was seeing "challenging conditions this summer" as the closure of Ukrainian airspace due to Russia's war caused congestion in the skies and disrupted flights.

They also said planned strikes by air traffic controllers in Europe could have an impact.

"We have therefore made some pre-emptive adjustments to our programme consolidating a small number of flights at Gatwick, where we have multiple daily frequencies, in order to help mitigate these external challenges on the day of travel for our customers," the spokesperson said.

"Customers whose flights are affected are being informed, with 95% of customers being rebooked onto an alternative flight and all customers provided with the option to rebook or receive a refund."