The Week In Travel

Global travel chaos has continued this week, with more than 10,000 flights delayed on Monday as airports struggle to cope with the surge in demand for travel this summer. According to FlightAware tracking data, there were 1,700 flight cancellations by 14:00 GMT on Monday. The most affected region was Europe, although there has been disruption across the globe – including in China where seven airports reported that more than 20% of their flights had been cancelled.

London Heathrow Airport has apologised to passengers affected by disruption in a statement this week, but warned that it will continue to ask airlines to trim their services where demand will exceed capacity. On Monday Heathrow asked airlines to remove 61 flights from the day’s schedule because more passengers were expected in Terminals 3 and 5 than the airport believed it had the capacity to serve. Heathrow CEO, John Holland-Kaye, did affirm that most passengers receive a good level of service, despite resourcing challenges.

In a backwards move, the government of Canada has announced that it will restart mandatory random Covid testing for international arrivals to the country from the 19th July. The measure is intended to help the government track the spread of Covid-19 and detect new variants of the virus. People chosen for random testing will be required to finish the test within a day of their arrival.

In more positive news, the Irish carrier Aer Lingus signed a deal this week with US-based renewable fuels producer, Gevo Inc, to guarantee its supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The agreement secures the provision of 19,000 tonnes of SAF per year for five years – enough SAF to reduce lifecycle CO2 emissions by at least 180,000 tonnes. Aer Lingus has pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and has committed to powering 10% of its flights using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by 2030.

In US news, Spirit Airlines this week delayed a vote on whether to approve a merger bid from Frontier Airlines – the fourth such delay since the bid was submitted. Spirit has been the subject of a bidding war between Frontier and JetBlue to acquire the budget carrier. While Spirit’s board have declared their support for the merger with Frontier, many shareholders are yet to be convinced, and the delays are thought be necessary to petition for more votes.

And finally, a French passenger fell into a spot of bother as he boarded his EasyJet flight when his slightly oversized ‘hand-luggage’ got stuck in the box used to test the dimensions of carry-on bags. The suitcase was wedged so firmly into the box that even EasyJet staff couldn’t remove it. It is unknown whether he made it onto the flight.