British Airways has cancelled 88 European flights to and from its main base, London Heathrow airport on Sunday. The Independent calculates 12 domestic flights, including departures to all three airports it serves in Scotland.

A total of 76 short-haul international flights are cancelled. The most-grounded flights are from Heathrow to Milan Malpensa, with three outbound departures. There are also multiple cancellations to and from Barcelona, Brussels, Edinburgh, Geneva, Nice, Paris CDG and Stockholm.

BA says the flight cancellations are all pre-planned and that passengers were given notice of a week or two – with some departures taken out of the schedules many weeks ahead.

While airlines will not disclose passenger loads on the grounds of commercial sensitivity, if an average of 80 people were booked on each flight at the point of cancellation then more than 7,000 travellers will have been affected by today’s cancellations.

British Airways departures from Heathrow

Domestic: six outbound, 12 sectors in total

Europe: 38 outbound, 76 sectors in total

Besides the cancellations by British Airways, the UK’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, is cancelling around 70 flights daily – particularly to and from its largest base, Gatwick. The airline says most passengers are able “to switch onto alternative flights on the same day”.

All passengers whose flights are cancelled are entitled to new flights on the original day of departure if a seat is available, even if it is on a rival airline.

If the cancellation was announced less than two weeks in advance and the airline is responsible, they are also due cash compensation.

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