Scots face Easter travel disruption at airports and ports

Scots travelling for the Easter break are facing disruption after EasyJet cancelled flights amid ongoing problems with P&O Ferries.

The budget airline called off about 100 flights on Monday, including 62 from the UK, blaming higher than usual levels of staff absence due to Covid.

Stena Line have put on extra ferries from Cairnryan to Belfast to compensate for the postponement of P&O services.

But there are major problems in Dover, the most popular crossing to France.

Last month, P&O sparked outrage after sacking 800 staff with plans to replace them with cheaper agency workers.

Ferries operated by the firm have been suspended since but DFDS, the firm lined up to take passengers left in limbo, also has two ships out of action at Dover.

A spokesman for Stena Line said it had been "doing a lot" on the Cairnryan to Belfast route and had moved an additional ship into service, the Stena Nordica.

That has taken its daily sailings on the route from 12 to 18 and the company said its staff had been working hard to meet demand.

Separately, Eurotunnel warned motorists heading abroad to expect delays after a train "temporarily stopped" in the tunnel linking England to France.

The operator, which runs services from Folkestone to France, warned journeys could be delayed by up to three hours.

Travel expert Simon Calder told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme that Easyjet flights from Edinburgh to Gatwick (08:30) and Luton (14:15) have been affected.

And he said a number of British Airways flights to and from Heathrow have also been cancelled.

Mr Calder told the programme both airlines had "really serious problems with their staffing" due to Covid.

He added: "Many families on the first holiday they have been able to get for a couple of years are finding they can't even get past first base."

Mr Calder also advised people trying to get to France to use a western channel crossing rather than the popular Dover to Calais route.

Airlines have also been struggling with staff shortages after thousands of people left the aviation industry during the pandemic.

EasyJet, one of Europe's biggest airlines, said the cancellations were a small part of its schedule on Monday, which is about 1,645 flights.

It apologised and said it had tried to offset the problem by using standby crew but was forced "to make some cancellations in advance".

One flight from Edinburgh to Gatwick and the return flight back have been cancelled for Tuesday.

An EasyJet spokesman said: "As a result of the current high rates of Covid infections across Europe, like all businesses, easyJet is experiencing higher than usual levels of employee sickness and so we have taken the action to cancel some flights in advance, in order to give customers notice.

"We have focused on consolidating flights where we have multiple frequencies so customers have more options to rebook their travel, often on the same day, and we expect to make similar levels of pre-emptive cancellations over the coming days, due to the ongoing high level of sickness."

The airline apologised for any inconvenience and said affected customers could rebook on alternative flights or receive a voucher or refund.

About 60 British Airways flights to and from Heathrow airport were also cancelled on Monday. Fifty were cancelled in advance last week but 10 flights were late-notice overnight cancellations, due to Covid sickness among staff.

Last week, Edinburgh Airport warned holidaymakers to expect queues and disruption over the summer as it returns to full service.