With the war in Ukraine causing airspace closures, does easyJet have a point about how much more congested European airspace is becoming as a consequence?
Earlier this week, it was revealed that the UK carrier would be canceling over 1,700 flights over the next three months due to air traffic control delays caused by congested airspace.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
Ukraine War Causing Congestion in the Skies?
The airline cited congestion in the skies caused by the closure of Ukraine’s airspace due to Russia’s war and potential strikes by air traffic controllers as contributing factors, aviation24 has reported.
easyJet has therefore proceeded with cancellations of 1,700 flights in a three-month period consisting of July, August, and September.
The company has, however, confirmed it will be operating over 90,000 during the period and that the affected passengers have been or will be rebooked onto alternative flights.
So far, the cancellations will mostly affect the London Gatwick operations of easyJet.
Within this, we have seen many long-haul carriers take much longer routes to get to Asia and the rest of the Far East, as they are banned from overflying Russian airspace, which is causing additional congestion.
Is This A Consequence of the War?
With this in mind, it could very well be the case that even despite the significant demand experienced for air travel post-pandemic, the situation in Ukraine could cause these constraints going into the future.
As long as this war continues, this will no doubt continue to hamper the efforts that airlines are trying to make to recover the industry.
That being said, there needs to be consideration of the situation in Ukraine, which, whilst this will cause disruption to passengers, there is also what is going on there that needs to be considered.
Either way, it will be interesting to see what happens and whether we will see more flight cancellations going into the rest of the Summer season.
