Ryanair cancels 22 flights between Sofia and London
Europe’s largest airline, the low coast carrier Ryanair, has cancelled hundreds of flights between September 19 and the end of October. The measure will supposedly improve the punctuality of the company’s 2500 daily flights. About 50 flights per day will not be taking off.
The cancelled flights include some between Sofia and London. On September 21 2017, flights FR9961 and FR9962 (Sofia – London Stansted and the return flight) are cancelled. More flights between those two cities have been annuled as well, for the following dates: September 28, October 5, 7, 12, 14, 19, 21, 26 and 28.
Some 400 000 flight ticket holders have already received e-mails from Ryanair, in which Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary apologised for “the mess we caused ourselves.” According to him, 25 million euro will be spent for reimbursements.
Ryanair gives affected passengers two options. They can either apply for a reimbursement on the airline’s website. Or they can be rebooked on flights which actually take place, free of charge.
The European Commission is not exactly happy about the cancellations. A spokesperson said that Ryanair had to adhere to EU regulations regarding passenger rights. Compensations might have to be paid. The Commission announced that it intended to check whether Ryanair plays ball or not.
Under European law, passengers whose flights were cancelled are eligible for compensations if they were not notified at least two weeks before. For flights within Europe, the amount usually amounts to 250 or 440 euro per passenger, depending on the distance of the annulled flight.
