European low-cost carrier Wizz Air announced it will reduce its summer schedule this week, citing “ongoing external disruptions”. The Hungarian carrier has been forced to cut flights following European staff shortages and strikes. Wizz is the latest in a string of airlines to reduce their operations during peak season.
Wizz Air Cuts Flights
Continued disruptions across Europe have led Wizz Air to trim down its operations by 5% this summer. The combination of staff shortages and a surge in passenger numbers after the pandemic has hit airlines hard this year, leading to thousands of flights being cancelled at the last minute. This is the second time that Wizz Air has revised its schedule to curb the chaos at airports.
In a statement released Monday, the airline said the move would help “to avoid cancellations and secure a more punctual operation for our customers.” The budget carrier says they have “further improved the agility and resilience of our network including adjusting schedules where we have seen a higher occurrence of issues… In total for the peak summer period, we expect to reduce utilization a further 5% versus the plan outlined at the full-year results to reduce the impact of ongoing external disruptions.”
An Industry Trend
Wizz Air is the latest airline to decrease its summer operations, following a trend among European carriers. Earlier this week, KLM announced they would be scrapping 10 to 20 European flights a day, as well as “strongly restricting” ticket sales on remaining flights.
UK airlines have been cutting regular flights over the summer, following the UK government’s “Slot Amnesty” policy. Most notably, British Airways cancelled 10,300 flights last week, in an effort to pre-emptively reduce last-minute cancellations. No doubt we will see more airlines start to follow suit as we head further into peak season.
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