Latest news with #Dekkers
Scottish Sun
6 days ago
- Scottish Sun
Brit holiday airline warns of flight delays over summer and blames French for hold ups
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) FLIGHTS this summer will suffer massive delays because of French hold ups, a Brit airline boss has warned. The dismal forecast comes as holidaymakers continue to wrestle with disrupted flight schedules often leaving them stuck for hours in terminals and on planes. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 Brits should expect long delays this summer, an airline boss has warned Credit: Getty Chief Commercial Officer at Easyjet Sophie Dekkers blamed the expected summer chaos on French air traffic control's poor planning and staff shortages, saying the country lacks capacity to cope with the traffic. She told The Times: 'The biggest issue we've got [in France] is resourcing and the actual planning of the airspace. "They don't have the people on the ground to be able to cope with the amount of traffic that's covering their airspace and they don't have the capacity to cope with the traffic.' With 70 per cent of short-haul flights going in and out of the UK using French airpsace, the budget airline is heavily reliant on France's air traffic control. So, staffing issues or poor planning could be disastrous for the airline's flight schedule. As well as affecting flights to France, departures to some of Brits' favourite holiday hotspots will also be hit such as, Spain, Greece, Italy and Croatia. Most aircrafts will do multiple flights to different destinations each day, so one of the biggest issues this summer will be the "knock-on impact" on the rest of the networks, Ms Dekkers explained. She said: "when people say, 'why is my London-Scotland flight delayed by French traffic control?' "It's because previously that flight was scheduled to do London to Spain and back, and then London to Scotland and back." Issues relating to air traffic control have caused 49 per cent of delays for easyJet since the start of the holiday season (since Easter). Flight Chaos in Europe: French ATC Strikes Disrupt Travel for Thousands This is a 77 per cent hike compared with the same period last year. And with 20 per cent of European airspace still shut, due to the war in Ukraine, delays and scheduling problems have only intensified, she added. 'Severe disruption' EU officials told the Financial Times that the air traffic control system was operating at capacity due to staff shortages and increased demand following the Covid-19 pandemic. Flight compensation rules A look at your rights if a flight is delayed or cancelled, when your entitled to compensation and if your travel insurance can cover the costs. What are my rights if my flight is cancelled or delayed? Under UK law, airlines have to provide compensation if your flight arrives at its destination more than three hours late. If you're flying to or from the UK, your airline must let you choose a refund or an alternative flight. You will be able to get your money back for the part of your ticket that you haven't used yet. So if you booked a return flight and the outbound leg is cancelled, you can get the full cost of the return ticket refunded. But if travelling is essential, then your airline has to find you an alternative flight. This could even be with another airline. When am I not entitled to compensation? The airline doesn't have to give you a refund if the flight was cancelled due to reasons beyond their control, such as extreme weather. Disruptions caused by things like extreme weather, airport or air traffic control employee strikes or other 'extraordinary circumstances' are not eligible for compensation. Some airlines may stretch the definition of "extraordinary circumstances" but you can challenge them through the aviation regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Will my insurance cover me if my flight is cancelled? If you can't claim compensation directly through the airline, your travel insurance may refund you. Policies vary so you should check the small print, but a delay of eight to 12 hours will normally mean you qualify for some money from your insurer. Remember to get written confirmation of your delay from the airport as your insurer will need proof. If your flight is cancelled entirely, you're unlikely to be covered by your insurance. They added that last year was the worst summer yet for delays and cancellations and "this year will be very similar". Approximately 37,000 flights occur in Europe on the busiest days of the season - but this is the limit of what air traffic controllers can currently manage. Strikes, such as those recently in France, have also made the situation worse. Eurocontrol, the organisation responsible for air traffic control in Europe, said flights were "impacted by air traffic control (ATC) industrial action between 2-5 July 2025, leading to severe disruption for passengers, airlines and airports." In total, there were 3,343 fewer flights to and from French airports compared to the previous week - all of which were cancelled due to the strike. Europe currently also has a reduced airspace due to the war in Ukraine. The EU transport commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas explained that this, paired with the shortage of controllers, "threatens to overburden the air network and disappoint passengers". He saod airports are now more congested and "Europe cannot afford chaos in the skies". Travel advice With a summer of further disruptions expected, The Sun's head of travel Lisa Minot has advised what you should do if travelling this summer. She said: "Whatever happens if it is [your flight] delayed or cancelled for reasons outside of the the airlines control, then unfortunately there is no compensation due. "But the airline does have a duty of care to look after you. "If your flight is cancelled and it is the airline's fault ... then you could be due compensation. "It could be anything up to £520." Last month Ryanair also said that this summer would be the worst summer for flight delays and cancellations. The airline revealed the worst air traffic control centres (ATCs) for delays and this included the UK as the fifth worst. Ryanair said that the European Commission and European governments "have taken no action to fix their shoddy ATC services and ATC delays will now be even worse in summer 2025". Micheal O'Leary, the airline's CEO, also said that if staff shortages and ATC issues are not sorted, there will be "record ATC flight delays this summer". The airline's 'League of Delays' revealed that France and Spain have been the most impacted so far this year, with 15,634 and 11,576 flights delayed respectively. The airline has also claimed that 90 per cent of their flight cancellations during the French ATC strikes, could have been avoided if overflights over France were allowed to take place. Many airlines are now calling on Brussels to complete the 'Single European Sky' project which would allow airlines to fly the most direct route possible within the EU. This would mean that airlines would not follow diversions via several points, but instead fly straight to a destination. Last year, air traffic was up by five per cent compared to 2023, with over a third of flights delayed by more than 15minutes on arrival, according to Eurocontrol. Overall, delays averaged around 21.4minutes per flight.
New York Times
10-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
How the transfer portal changed the NFL Draft. Plus, a Beast gem
Until Saturday Newsletter 🏈 | This is The Athletic's college football newsletter. Sign up here to receive Until Saturday directly in your inbox. Today in college football news, most foods might as well just be calzones. I really like the third day of the NFL Draft. Not watching it exactly, but having it on a screen somewhere and noticing once an hour that somebody has been drafted from Division III or New Zealand or even your rival. (That last one was a joke. None of your rival's draft picks count, because of the portal or their grades or whatever.) Advertisement So yesterday when The Athletic published 'The Beast,' Dane Brugler's annual draft scouting spectacular, I did the normal thing: Try to find the most obscure player who earned a 300-word writeup from Dane despite being unlikely to get drafted. But before I got that far, a name caught my eye: Hunter Dekkers. Remember that moment in 2023 when it felt like everybody in college sports was about to be wrapped up in a million different gambling probes? One of the most noteworthy was at Iowa State, where Dekkers, the 3,000-yard starting QB, lost his NCAA eligibility for betting on his school in a variety of sports, including his own. It was from Dane's report on Dekkers that I learned what the 23-year-old has been up to ever since: 'After sitting out the 2023 season (and having his appeal for reinstatement denied by the NCAA), he enrolled at Iowa Western Community College. He led the program to an 11-2 record and a spot in the NJCAA national title game (lost to Hutchinson Community College 28-23). '(…) Overall, Dekkers' past will be interpreted differently across the league, but the lefty passer has draftable talent.' Hey, that'd be something! Dane ranks the 6-foot-2 Dekkers No. 15 among QBs, in the realm of Auburn's Payton Thorne ('better than the message boards suggested') and Missouri's Brady Cook ('his mother played soccer at Truman State'). Overall, this has got to be the only draft preview that's so extensive, it ranks both of the British Columbia quarterbacks who threw at the Thunderbirds' pro day. And yes, Dane's long snapper rankings include a player from Division II's Colorado School of Mines. I linked the term 'long snapper rankings' with tremendous confidence. Nobody can avoid clicking it. In case you'd like to find yourself scrolling so far into wide receiver rankings that you wonder where Millersville University is (Pennsylvania, alma mater of multiple members of The Roots): That overall link to 'The Beast' is here. 💰 Former Florida, Arizona State and Georgia QB Jaden Rashada can proceed with his lawsuit against Billy Napier over that $13.85 million NIL debacle, a judge ruled Tuesday. (Yes, Rashada is in the portal.) 🌸 A better idea than spring games: preseason games. Scott Dochterman explains. We'll come back to this one next week. Advertisement ☀️ Ten years ago, Lamar Jackson ranked as the No. 58 recruit … in the state of Florida. Manny Navarro reviewed how the rest of that group ended up. 🐔 What's South Carolina's ceiling? Whatever number you just thought about, Shane Beamer will use it as motivation. ⁉️ Texas A&M's defensive line has (well, had) a motto so ill-advised, one player's attempt to censor it actually made it much worse. ⏰ More draft stuff: 🏀 Still thinking about that brutal moment for Houston at the end of Monday's title game. The inside story. That morsel comes from Nick Kosmider's new look at how much more complicated draft season has become over the past few years, with scouts having to piece together player profiles from different schools, conferences and levels, sometimes without being able to talk to a single college coach who knew that player for more than a year or two. Here's something especially worth keeping in mind: 'It's not just about the money when you transfer,' longtime agent Juan Lozano said. 'It allows guys to answer questions about themselves that other people have about them. You get to check off that box about a certain question — level of competition; can he do this one skill thing, whatever it may be.' Often, transferring gets framed as a one-time NIL cash-in. (Sure, often that's true, and that's usually pretty great, actually. Money is useful!) But for players whose realistic goals are to improve their draft stock from UDFA to seventh-rounder, a transfer toward more playing time, better competition or a more favorable scheme actually is the kind of forward-thinking personal development that we all say we want college sports to revolve around. There's a lot more here in Kosmider's story, including on the NFL scouts who've found themselves evaluating more and more 25-year-old fathers. Now let's hurl the mic toward Stewart Mandel, and I'll see you next week. As always, reach out to untilsaturday@ with thoughts on what you'd like to see in this newsletter! You were at the House settlement hearing on Monday. It seems like the judge is inclined to accept the settlement. What sports will be the first to become extinct at the D-I level? — Jesse K The settlement is deeply flawed. I still don't see how you can resolve an antitrust suit with more restrictions — both a salary cap ($20.5 million per school) that the athletes did not negotiate and a third-party clearinghouse that could squash outside NIL deals it deems above 'market value.' But Wilken basically said that's not her problem. All she's trying to determine is whether the settlement is a fair compromise for the two sides. And as the NCAA's primary lawyer, Rakesh Kilaru, kept saying: It's a better system than the one we have now. As for the last part of the question, no one can say with any certainty what the unintended consequences will be. Entire sports programs going away seems fatalistic, but we know not everyone will be able to afford this new model. Especially the farther you go down the ladder. I just hope the Power 4 programs don't use this as an excuse to cut sports. They can afford them. They just have to stop burning money on raises for mediocre coaches with no leverage and the enormous buyouts that follow them. More from Stewart's mailbag here. 📫 Love Until Saturday? Check out The Athletic's other newsletters.
