British Airways is to cut 10,000 short-haul flights from the winter schedule in the carrier's latest major change to its plans.
The airline’s new wave of cancellations will cover flights from late October to March 2023 and is an attempt to minimise disruption over the winter. BA warned that some long-haul flights will be affected as well. The changes will reduce the airline's capacity this winter by around 8 per cent.
In the shorter term, BA will also cut an average of 12 round-trip flights per day from Heathrow until the end of October, which will affect more than 1,200 flights in total, following Heathrow's extension of its current 100,000 daily passenger cap until 29 October.
“Following Heathrow's decision to extend its passenger cap we're making adjustments to our short-haul schedule for the next two months. While the vast majority of our customers will travel as planned and we're protecting key holiday destinations over half-term, we will need to make some further cancellations up to the end of October," said the airline in a statement.
“In addition, we're giving customers travelling with us this winter notice of some adjustments to our schedule, which will include consolidating some of our short-haul flights to destinations with multiple services.”
In July, British Airways cancelled around 10,300 flights from the start of August to the end of October. The carrier also suspended last-minute sales on short-haul flights from Heathrow for two weeks earlier this month.