‘Flight cancelled’: June was chaotic time for airplane travel worldwide

“Flight cancelled” increased 100 percent as a web search around the world in June 2022 compared to May 2022.

Throughout last month, according to data analysis released by TradingPedia, travelers around the world experienced disruptions in airplane travel on a scale only comparable to what was seen in March 2020, when the world entered a global pandemic lockdown.

The most significant increase of flight cancellations, TradingPedia determined, was in Jersey, United Kingdom, St. Helena Island, Cyprus and Ireland. TradingPedia shared insights into the causes for air travel disruptions.

Staff shortages in Jersey caused a large amount of flights to and from London to be cancelled in June 2022. Many British airlines struggled to find workers and were unable to handle the increasing demand for air travel two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A low-cost leisure British airline called Jet2 cancelled all flights between Jersey and Manchester after June 28, 2022. Services by Jet2 from Birmingham and London Stansted were decreased from two flights to one flight per week.

British staff shortages created chaos in airports last month after the COVID-19 pandemic forced airlines to cancel thousands of scheduled flights and the workforce in the aviation industry worldwide was reduced. Travelling by airplane was just not going to happen during a global pandemic lockdown.

Prior to the United States celebrating its Fourth of July holiday, a travel boom in the United Kingdom was related to celebration of a long Platinum Jubilee weekend. Both holidays in early July came as many countries lifted or relaxed COVID restrictions and permitted travel without a PCR test, a COVID test administered at home or at the airport prior to air travel in the UK.

Thus, scenes of chaos, luggage piling up and travelers sleeping in airports were seen on television and social media, and encouraged many British citizens to cancel their travel plans.

According to TradingPedia, travelers cancelled plans to fly to St. Helena in June because of a mandate that they must isolate for 10 days at an approved hotel or their home after their arrival on the island. The mandate was to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Therefore, Airlink suspended flights to and from the island last month. Qatar Airways announced a codeshare agreement with Airlink in June.

Chaos at airports in the UK affected travellers who hoped to fly to and from Cyprus. TradingPedia data revealed that Hermes Airport reported approximately 12 percent of flights from the UK arrived significantly delayed in May. The Paphos airport experienced one-hour delays in 26 percent of UK flights, and 20 of 21 flights to the UK were cancelled in May.

Lastly, TradingPedia data revealed an “unprecedented increase in Irish looking to cancel their flights” in June compared to May after approximately 1,400 passengers missed flights because of lengthy queues at Dublin airport. The travelers who missed their flights were compensated by the Dublin Airport Authority.

But the heart of the problem at Dublin airport is also a staff shortage. The airport reduced staff during the pandemic. Extra security lanes were added to mitigate chaos, but the airport requested that passengers not arrive too early for their flights so as to avoid congestion in terminals.