British tourists travelling across Europe have been stranded by flight cancellations and delays due to adverse weather conditions. Vueling Airlines, Spain’s largest carrier, has cancelled 17 flights today and has been hit by 53 delays.
Nearly 50 flights to Barcelona were cancelled after a torrential downpour and flooding seized the Spanish city yesterday, The Local reported. A further 45 were delayed due to bad weather. Beyond Barcelona, other key cities were also affected, like Paris, Lyon, Valencia, Florence, Nice and Malaga. Terminals are overcrowded as passengers have been made to wait, Travel and Tour World reported.
It is expected that the last 24 hours of disruption will cause a ripple effect across the air travel network, impacting tens of thousands of travellers in Europe.
Rain continues to lash down across southern Europe with thunderstorms crashing over southern Italy and Sicily as well as steady rainfall over Spain and southern France.
Veuling’s cancellations come as their parent company International Airline Group (IAG) announced a 2% increase in earnings during their third quarter, making £1.8 billion, up from £1.77 billion a year ago, the Standard reports.
Despite recent disruption, IAG chief executive Luis Gallego says the European market for his company “is improving lately.”
IAG also owns British Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia. Aer Lingus had two cancellations on flights to Dublin Airport yesterday. One British Airways flight from Barcelona to London Heathrow was cancelled yesterday, according to Flight Patrol.
Aer Lingus crew have announced more strike dates, a blow to travellers using Manchester Airport this month. Nearly 130 Unite members working for the airline will stage walkouts on November 9-11, November 14 and November 16-18.
British employees of the airline have called the action amid a dispute over pay and a smaller flight allowance than their Dublin based colleagues. Meanwhile, Aer Lingus recorded an operating profit of €205 million for 2024.
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
