Global airlines cut 25,000 flights from their August schedule
Over 25,000 more August flights have been removed in the latest schedule upload. Turkish Airlines has cut the most.
The number of August flights worldwide has fallen by a further 25,378. This is just the latest reduction, reflecting the number of planned services removed in the past week. It builds on numerous weeks of declines in the peak summer.
Airlines are mainly reducing services because of staff shortages in multiple areas. It comes as demand rises as the world increasingly returns to normal in combination, in many leisure markets, with the peak period of summer demand. Staff shortages mean that capacity isn’t able to fully accommodate the demand, leading to delays and other problems. In some places, it isn’t helped by the war in Ukraine and strikes.
To try to overcome it, particular nations have taken remedial action by ‘proactively’ cutting flights, while some airlines have intentionally overpriced flights to reduce demand and thereby cope better.
25,000+ fewer August flights
According to the latest schedule upload via Cirium, airlines globally plan 3,014,734 August flights. That is down from 3,040,112 last week, a reduction of 25,378. Some 818 flights a day have been culled. It also means that 4.4 million seats for sale have been removed in one week. It’s different on a percentage basis, with flights and capacity reduced by less than 1%.
Europe is disproportionately impacted. Its August plan has reduced by 2% as flights fall by 15,788 or over six in ten of the global total. easyJet and British Airways have had well-publicized problems, along with Wizz Air, KLM, and Lufthansa. In contrast, North America is down by 2,885, having largely already made most of its August cuts. Africa has removed the fewest (88).
Which airlines have cut the most?
Turkish Airlines has cut more August services in the past week than any other carrier. Over half of its removals involved its Istanbul Airport hub, the world’s second-busiest airport for international passengers last year. Some 46 routes have fewer flights than last week. (A fifth of its reductions involved Russia and flights to Ukraine pulled again.)
- Turkish Airlines: 4,408 August flights cut this week (down by 9.6%)
- British Airways: 3,600 (-13.9%)
- Azul: 2,211 (-7.9%)
- Korean Air: 2,133 (-25.2%)
- EasyJet: 2,045 (-3.8%)
- IndiGo: 2,030 (-3.9%)
- Indonesia AirAsia: 1,906 (-35.6%)
- Lufthansa: 1,888 (-4.7%)
- United Airlines: 1,757 (-1.4%)
- Wizz Air: 1,256 (-4.4%)
- SalamAir: 961 (-54.6%)
- KLM: 944 (-4.6%)
- Volaris: 651 (-3.8%)
- Aerolineas Argentinas: 549 (-5.9%)
- Cape Air: 473 (-6.1%)
In a fairly dramatic development, Wizz Air’s Chișinău August flights have reduced by 74%. It has trimmed its Moldova network from 21 routes planned last week to just five. Only Bergamo, Bologna, Budapest, Luton, and Rome Fiumicino will operate.
Wizz Air will now have a maximum of three daily departures from Chișinău, down from a maximum of nine last week. It’ll be the airport’s third-largest airline, down from the usual first. However, as for most airlines, it is only temporary, a way of attempting to overcome the current challenges. simpleflying.com