Comes after Heathrow decided to continue the passenger cap it introduced in July.
British Airways has announced it will be making “some further cancellations” from its winter schedule after it already announced an extension to its summer cuts.
Following the decision by Heathrow Airport to continue its passenger cap – introduced in July because of staff shortages – British Airways said it will also cut a dozen roundtrips per day until the end of October, resulting in 629 affected flights.
Now the airline has gone one step further, cutting thousands of flights from its winter schedule.
A BA spokesperson said: “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.”
They added: “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.
“We’ll be offering customers affected by any of these changes an alternative flight with British Airways or another airline, or the option of a refund.”
Airports and airlines, which cut jobs during the height of the Covid pandemic, have found it difficult to recruit enough staff as demand for travel has returned.
Heathrow has struggled to cope with rising passenger numbers and issues with its baggage handling systems caused long delays in returning luggage.
British Airways has cancelled almost 38,000 flights since the start of the summer. The winter cancellations equate to 8 per cent of planned flights.
John Strickland, an aviation consultant, said the amount of flights cut appeared to be a “very negligible amount in the context of what they would plan to operate”.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “At this point they are likely to inconvenience very few people and I wouldn’t expect any noticeable impact on price.”
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