Airports around the world are struggling to keep up with the higher-than-expected surge of travelers flooding their gates every day. Major disruptions of air traffic including delays, flight cancellations, and personnel strikes are preventing passengers from reaching their long desired summer destinations, causing moral and economic damage. Whether you fly regularly for business or you are looking to buy plane tickets for the next few weeks, here is what you should know:

What is causing airport problems?

The chaos started in May 2022, when covid cases dropped within a controllable limit and countries worldwide relaxed their travel restrictions. Eager to make up for what they had missed over the previous two summers, many people bought plane tickets and started crowding all major airport hubs. In pre-covid times, this would not have been a problem: airport managers are well aware of seasonality patterns and can prepare in advance for the summer peak by hiring additional staff. This year, however, two main issues are preventing airports from functioning smoothly: a shortage of ground and air personnel, caused mainly by the numerous layoffs that occurred during the pandemic; the many strikes by airport staff that demand better staffing and pay. Problems concern boarding queues, lost luggage, but also delays and canceled flights.

Which airlines are the most affected?

Data from Cirium, as reported by Shengenvisa, shows that airlines all over the world have canceled more than 25,000 flights from their schedule in August, 60% of which in Europe. According to the flight-data platform, Turkish Airlines has canceled the most flights for the month of August, followed by British Airways, EasyJet, Lufthansa, and Wizz Air. 

The travel intelligence platform Mabrian shared the table below, with a list of of the top 10 European countries by flight cancellations:

The data analyzed concerns the first few weeks of July and takes into consideration flights with origin or destination within Europe. It is important to note that while the overall numbers of canceled flights are quite worrying, the percentage values are more contained: Germany has the biggest impact with 6% of canceled flights. 

To decrease inconveniences and make the queues more manageable, many airports are limiting the number of passengers. Among these are major European hubs such as Heathrow, Frankfurt, Schiphol, and Gatwick. 

How to deal with airport problems?

The current air travel situation is rather complex and it seems that these issues will continue throughout the month of August. It is important therefore to know how to protect oneself and who to contact in case of flight delays or cancellations. EU Regulation 261, for example, establishes common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights. In particular, it establishes the right to a compensation between 250 and 600 euros (depending on the length of the route) by the airline in the event of a cancellation notice less than 14 days prior to the scheduled departure or a delay of more than three hours.

Using smart online tools like Airhelp could be of great help in such cases. This company allows passengers to “get up to €600 per passenger for flights from the last 3 years. No matter the ticket price.” In just a few minutes, by adding departure airport and flight destination, anyone can check for compensation. The advantage of using Airhelp is to avoid useless wastes of time and complex bureaucratic confusion.