Passengers were forced to miss connecting flights and faced hours of disruption – reports suggest there was overcrowded waiting areas and huge queues at major airports
Passengers have been left stranded after a huge number of flights were reportedly cancelled as four major airlines experienced delays.
According to Travel and Tour World, nearly 500 flights were delayed as Capital Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, China Eastern Airlines and Pakistan International Airlines.
The airlines collectively cancelled 23 flights across a number of different airports in Asia, including Shanghai Pudong and Islamabad International Airport.
Reports suggest that these delays created a whole host of problems – with passengers missing connecting flights and facing hours of disruption. Travel and Tour World reports that there were overcrowded waiting areas and huge queues at Shanghai and Beijing.
It comes as Aer Lingus is expected to cancel around 500 flights due to “mandatory maintenance” on aircraft.
An Aer Lingus spokesperson told RSVP Live: “Aer Lingus has commenced operating its planned summer schedule. A number of recent cancellations have been required due to mandatory maintenance on aircraft, along with a limited number of schedule adjustments.
“Where schedule adjustments are being made, the vast majority of customers are being reaccommodated on same day services.”
Earlier this month, Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary cautioned that flights could be cancelled this summer owing to the soaring cost of jet fuel.
He told ITV News: “We’re all facing an unknown scenario. And we are certainly looking at maybe having to cancel 5 per cent, 10 per cent of flights through May, June and July.”
Should passengers find their flight cancelled, O’Leary suggested they should ‘blame Trump’ rather than the airline.
Air Canada is also set to suspend services to New York’s JFK International Airport over the summer as the war in Iran creates jet fuel shortages that have sent prices soaring.
Canada’s flag carrier said on Friday that flights from Toronto and Montreal to JFK will cease on June 1 and resume on October 25.
Services to the New York metropolitan area’s two other airports — LaGuardia and Newark — will continue.
Air Canada said it will reach out to customers who are affected by the suspension with alternative travel options.
“As jet fuel prices have doubled since the start of the Iran conflict and some lower profitability routes and flights are no longer economic, we are making schedule adjustments accordingly,” a spokesman for the Montreal-based carrier said.
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