Delta flies plane with just stranded bags from Heathrow to US

LONDON • A Delta Air Lines plane packed with luggage but no passengers was flown from Heathrow Airport in London to Detroit this week, the carrier said on Wednesday.

The luggage belonged to Delta customers who had recently travelled through Heathrow and were separated from their bags because of travel disruptions.

Delta decided to send the plane, an Airbus A330-200, to deliver 1,000 pieces of stranded luggage to Detroit in the United States on Monday, and from there the airline transported them to their owners across the country "to accelerate movement of delayed bags", said Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant, who described the move as a "creative solution".

It has been a chaotic summer for travel. Staffing shortages, the Covid-19 pandemic and high demand from travellers have led to scores of cancelled and delayed flights. Some of the worst problems happened over the July 4 weekend, with more than 1,400 cancellations of flights into, within or from the US from that Friday to Sunday, according to FlightAware.

Things have been particularly chaotic at Heathrow Airport.

A baggage system malfunction there last month contributed to even more flight cancellations.

And on Tuesday, the airport announced that because of constrained capacity, it would curb the number of departing passengers until mid-September, calling on airlines to limit ticket sales.

Despite the widespread inconveniences and rising prices because of inflation, consumer demand for travel remains robust for now.

Delta Air Lines on Wednesday reported a quarterly profit of US$735 million (S$1.03 billion), and said it expected strong demand to continue into autumn.

Meanwhile, German national carrier Lufthansa said on Wednesday it is scrapping another 2,000 flights between now and the end of next month because of staff shortages, adding to a chaotic travel season as the industry attempts to bounce back from the pandemic.

Most of the flights affected are domestic routes scheduled to take off from Munich or Frankfurt, a representative for the German carrier said. Long-haul flights and trips to vacation destinations will be largely spared.

Lufthansa, one of the world's biggest airline groups, already announced more than 3,000 flight cancellations earlier this month.

Other European airlines have also been hit hard by staffing shortages and travel chaos as demand for seats rebounds following the easing of pandemic restrictions. British Airways has scrapped 13 per cent of its flights.

NYTIMES, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BLOOMBERG