Gatwick Airport: Wizz Air has 'capacity available for the high demand of the holiday season' as government orders airlines to cancel flights for July and August now

The airline has been one of many, including easyJet and British Airways, who have had to cancel and delay flights due to staff shortages in recent months.

The shortages have seen huge queues at airports for check-in and caused major problems for passengers with last minute cancellations.

And this week the government has ordered airlines to cancel flights for July and August now to “de-risk the summer” for tens of thousands of passengers.

The Department for Transport (DfT) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) have warned carriers to cut schedules now to avoid the misery of flights cancelled at short notice.

In a joint letter to airlines, they say: “Cancellations at the earliest possibility to deliver a more robust schedule are better for consumers than late-notice on-the-day cancellations.”

But Wizz Air, the third-biggest European budget carrier after Ryanair and easyJet, told the Crawley Observer they are now at pre-COVID levels of employment and should be able to handle the demand of the summer season.

A spokesperson for Wizz Air said: “Wizz Air has the capacity available for the high demand of the holiday season, having invested in a headcount ramp up in preparation. We are now at pre-COVID levels of employment, and plan to deliver our largest ever summer flying programme.

“Despite this period of uncertainty for the travel industry, due to continued supply chain issues at airports and within ATC, Wizz Air remains committed to doing everything we can to get passengers to their destination on time.

“Wizz Air constantly reviews its flight schedule to ensure it is deliverable. In the small of number of instances where Wizz Air anticipates that it cannot operate a flight as planned, for example due to planned ATC strikes, it will cancel with as much “advance notice as possible, offering passengers who have booked a range of options, including alternative flights with Wizz Air, a full refund or 120% in airline credit (both of which we aim to process within a week)."

You can see the latest cancelled flights at Gatwick Airport here.

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