Thousands of Holidaymakers Stranded After 200 Flight Cancellations

Tens of thousands of British holidaymakers have been left stranded abroad after up to 200 flights were cancelled by airlines amidst a nationwide travel chaos.The airline easyJet cancelled 80 flights on Sunday "due to the ongoing challenging environment". Eurostar passengers also faced travel chaos with delays and cancellations due to power supply problems near Paris.

Flight cancellations from Gatwick Airport were mostly from easyJet but other airline companies were also affected. Passengers who booked flights with British Airways, Wizz Air and Vueling faced cancellations.The travel chaos has been compounded by staff shortages after letting thousands of people go during the coronavirus pandemic. Airline companies are struggling to recruit new members of staff to fill the gap and have their security checks processed. According to the companies, the security checks are being delayed by government red tape.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claimed travel booking agents have "seriously oversold flights and holidays relative to their capacity to deliver" despite government warnings. Shapps said that he will "do absolutely everything possible to make sure" that passengers are able to travel to their destinations without any issues during this summer.Following a meeting with aviation industry bosses, Shapps said he had answered industry demands to speed up security check processing and allow some staff in non-security related jobs to take up training immediately.

He noted that it was up to the sector to fix their issues. He added: "Clearly, they have been taken by surprise by the way people have returned to travel after two years of being locked down, but I'm not surprised - we were saying all along: 'You will need to be ready for this'."One passenger, Peter Mehnert, was trying to travel to Italy. His flight from Bristol with EasyJet was cancelled on Sunday. After he spent a day travelling to Gatwick, where he face further delays. He said: "I showed up to Bristol airport and I then had to make arrangements, get a taxi, two trains, another two taxis and a coach to get to Gatwick and then stay the night at Gatwick."Passengers are being advised by officials to fly with only one carry-on bag when they go on holiday to ease queues in airports.