Staff ReporterBRITISH Airways has cancelled more than than 2,000 flights from its schedule until March 2022.
Report Focus News has it on good authority that these cancellations of flights are due to a reduced demand for air travel particularly necessitated by the pandemic.
However, a spokesperson from British Airways said that the changes were nothing to do with the new Omicron variant or increased travel restrictions, but they were cleaning up their schedule as they have done throughout the pandemic because of reduced demand for flights.
Information that Report Focus News obtained from Simple Flying an aviation website revealed data from Cirium showing that British Airways has cut 2,144 flights from its winter schedule, more than half of which were planned for January.
The airline has dropped 210 flights in December, 1,146 in January, 210 in February and 243 in March.
The decision has affected both domestic routes like London to Belfast and transcontinental flights like London to Cape Town. Affected passengers will be able to receive a full refund or swap flights.
Experts in the industry say that the new travel rules designed to slow the spread of the Omicron variant which have been rolled out by the UK government may also be a reason for big air lines cutting down or slashing some of their flights.
As of the new rules rolled out by the U.K. government, everyone over the age of 12 planning on entering the UK must take a pre-departure Covid test before they travel.
Arrivals from non-red list countries must then isolate until they receive a negative result from a PCR test.
Arrivals from red list countries must isolate for 11 nights in a designated quarantine hotel.
However, as reported by The Sun Online Travel, quarantine hotels are full, leaving Brits stuck in red list countries with nowhere to go.
Ryanair has also cancelled flights recently, with more than 230,000 passengers facing disrupted travel plans.
Tour operator Saga has cancelled some holidays for 2022, affecting around 3,000 bookings.
