All the British Airways flights that are cancelled today from UK airports

Airline blames continuing travel disruption on Covid-related staff shortages

British Airways has cancelled more than 120 short-haul flights to and from its main base, London Heathrow airport on Friday.

The Independent calculates 24 domestic flights have been grounded, including two round-trips from Heathrow to Aberdeen, Belfast City, Glasgow and Newcastle.

At least 102 international flights are cancelled, including five round-trips from Heathrow to Amsterdam and holiday flights to Faro, Malaga and Olbia.

BA says the flight cancellations are pre-planned and that passengers were given advance notice – with some departures taken out of the schedules many weeks ahead.

While airlines do not disclose passenger loads on the grounds of commercial sensitivity, if an average of 80 people were booked on each flight at the point of cancellation then almost 10,000 travellers will have been affected by today’s groundings.

British Airways departures from Heathrow

Domestic: 12 outbound, 24 sectors in total

• Aberdeen (2)
• Belfast City (2)
• Edinburgh
• Glasgow (2)
• Jersey
• Newcastle (2)

International: 52 outbound, 104 sectors in total

• Algiers
• Amsterdam (5)
• Athens
• Barcelona (2)
• Berlin (2)
• Bologna
• Brussels (2)
• Bucharest
• Budapest (2)
• Copenhagen
• Dublin
• Faro
• Frankfurt
• Geneva (4)
• Gothenburg
• Hanover
• Hamburg
• Larnaca
• Luxembourg
• Madrid
• Malaga
• Marseille (2)
• Milan Linate
• Naples
• Nice
• Olbia
• Oslo (2)
• Prague
• Rome (2)
• Stockholm (2)
• Tirana
• Toulouse
• Vienna (2)
• Warsaw
• Zurich (2)

British Airways has brought in aircraft and crew from its sister airline Iberia and Oneworld partner Finnair to try to stabilise its schedules over the summer.

Besides the cancellations by BA, the UK’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, has been cancelling dozens of flights daily – particularly to and from its largest base, London Gatwick.

All passengers whose flights are cancelled are entitled to new flights on the original day of departure if a seat is available, even if it is on a rival airline.

If the cancellation was announced less than two weeks in advance and the airline is responsible, they are also due cash compensation.