Holidaymakers face ‘difficult’ summer season amid fears of flight delays

Air passengers travelling throughout Europe ought to count on a “challenging” summer season that would contain delays and longer flight instances, officers have warned.

Eurocontrol, which manages European airspace, is anticipating round 33,000 every day flights throughout the continent for the subsequent eight weeks.

The organisation mentioned there can be a surge in air visitors all through Europe, issuing warnings for quite a few cities and areas, together with London, Barcelona, Brussels, Athens, Marseille and Budapest.

The improve in traffic might see passengers enduring vital delays and longer flight routes as airways keep away from congested areas.

With the height summer season season beneath manner, greater than 25 million journeys overseas are anticipated to be comprised of the UK between now and September – most of these by air.

Aviation chiefs proceed to even be involved by a sequence of strikes by air visitors controllers in France, which has an influence throughout Europe – whereas the conflict in Ukraine additionally places stress on airspace.

Raul Medina, director-general at Eurocontrol, mentioned: “This summer in Europe is challenging as we have less available airspace because of the war in Ukraine and the military needs.

“To achieve success over the summer season, we want everybody to play their half.

“Airports need to be well staffed, it is vital (air traffic services) provide enough capacity and that airlines stick to their schedules.”

Aviation Week reported that Eurocontrol forecasts an air visitors improve of seven% in contrast with the identical interval in 2022 – whereas the variety of European flights on Fridays is prone to exceed 34,000.

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Mr Medina mentioned the elevated navy exercise in Europe had decreased accessible airspace by as much as 20% – however that he nonetheless believed the business was in a powerful place to deal with this 12 months’s challenges.

“When we asked if aviation is ready to cope with this increase of traffic, our answer is yes,” he added.

“This year, we are clearly in a better situation than last year, as many of the causes of last year’s delays have been rectified.

“We have to deal with anticipated and sudden occasions, corresponding to managing industrial motion, climate points or navy workout routines.

“Recent industrial action caused many delays across the network. We can manage situations like that in quieter periods, but if it happens in the middle of summer, it will be much more challenging. We need to be prepared.”