Flight cancellations and London tube strike hamper Britons’ return to work

theguardian.com:

Transport troubles have hampered the return to work for many after the jubilee weekend, with more flight cancellations and a tube strike causing widespread disruption.

EasyJet cancelled a further 37 flights on Monday, as the staffing issues that have plagued the airline over half-term continued. Thousands more passengers had their travel plans upturned, after more than 80 flight cancellations by the airline on Sunday.

The airline blamed a “challenging operating environment” for the cancellations, which left some customers stranded abroad at the end of the half-term holiday.

Worker shortages as international travel rebounded have been blamed by airlines and airports for most of the recent disruption, compounded by air traffic control restrictions and bad weather in recent days.

An easyJet spokesperson apologised and said the airline was extending its customer service operation to help affected passengers. They said: “EasyJet is operating more than 1,700 flights today carrying almost 300,000 customers. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing challenging operating environment about 37 flights have been cancelled today ahead of customers arriving at the airport.”

A small number of Wizz, BA and Tui flights were also cancelled on Monday. Gatwick, the airport most affected by easyJet cancellations over the last week, said it was otherwise operating normally.

Europe’s air traffic agency, Eurocontrol, has warned that problems with meeting resurgent demand for travel could persist over the next six weeks, with “insufficient capacity to cope” in some regions. It added that the period was “likely to be extremely challenging for most airports”, in a briefing note.

London Heathrow announced it would be reopening Terminal 4 next week, easing some