Airport chaos: European travel runs into pandemic cutbacks

By KELVIN CHAN and MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — After two years of pandemic restrictions, travel demand is back, but airlines and airports that slashed jobs during the depths of the COVID-19 crisis are struggling to keep up. With the busy summer tourism season underway in Europe, passengers are encountering chaotic scenes at airports, including lengthy delays, canceled flights and headaches over lost luggage. The head of Europe’s biggest airline warned the turmoil would last all summer. Data from aviation consultancy Cirium says that nearly 2,000 flights from major continental European airports were canceled during one week this month. It’s a similar story in the United States, where airlines canceled thousands of flights over two days last week because of bad weather just as crowds of summer tourists grow.