Irish ultra-low-cost carrier Ryanair has launched hundreds of additional ‘rescue flights’ to support passengers whose flights have been canceled by British Airways, easyJet, and TUI.
According to statement issued by the airline on June 20, 2022, Ryanair will offer 200 ‘rescue flights’ on its routes from 19 UK airports to Europe “to facilitate UK families whose flights are being cancelled by BA, easyJet & TUI” due to staff shortages.
“While British Airways, easyJet, and TUI cancel thousands of flights disrupting the holiday plans of UK families, Ryanair is operating over 15,000 weekly flights and has added over 1,000 extra flights for July and August of 2022,” the statement continues.
According to Ryanair’s director of marketing and communications, Dara Brady, the initiative is expected to end in September 2022. However, Brady warned that flight bookings will only be accepted until June 23, 2022.
“UK families can now rest easy in the knowledge that Ryanair will fly them to and from their summer holiday destination to enjoy some well-deserved time off with friends and family,” Brady said.
Multiple European airlines have already cut their summer season flight schedules due to staff shortages which continue to plague the aviation industry.
British low-cost airline easyJet has become one of the most recent carriers in the UK to significantly shrink its summer capacity. The airline had initially set a target to serve up to 97% of pre-pandemic levels during this year’s summer season, easyJet announced on June 20, 2022 that it now expects to operate only 90%.
“While in recent weeks the action we have taken to build in further resilience has seen us continue to operate up to 1700 flights and carry up to a quarter of a million customers a day, the ongoing challenging operating environment has unfortunately continued to have an impact which has resulted in cancellations,” easyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren commented in an update.