If you’ve already booked your winter break with British Airways, you could be in for a nasty surprise, as the airline prepares to announce a host of schedule changes. Bad news, too, for those who haven’t booked: prices are set to go up substantially.

The carrier is currently “up to its neck in perhaps the biggest crisis the aviation industry has ever known”, according to its chairman, Martin Broughton, and, with the burden of higher fuel costs, it is set to follow EasyJet and Ryanair by dismantling its winter schedule. Full details of the cuts, expected to amount to 5% of departures, will be announced next month, the airline says.

It insists that business travellers will not be affected, but it’s a different story for leisure travellers. With dozens of departures to popular European short-haul destinations facing the axe, passengers with advance bookings on these routes should expect disruption.

“We’re planning to implement the cuts in a way that will have the least effect on passengers,” BA said. “If, for example, we cut a flight from Heathrow, we will make sure there’s an alternative departure from Gatwick, and we’ll be trying not to cancel the last flight of the day from anywhere.”

“It’s not particularly reassuring,” said Richard Stokes, who has booked flights to Lyon for a family ski trip in January. “Switching departure airports is bad enough – and whenever BA says it’s planning changes to have the least effect on passengers, it’s a disaster.”

Adam Daniels, the airline’s head of UK leisure sales, did little to allay Stokes’s fears. “We will reaccommodate passengers where we can,” he said, adding that more profitable long-haul routes would not be affected.

Despite consolidation, BA fares will continue to rise. Increases of about 4% are expected to be announced on Friday. “Prices are going to go up, either through surcharges or fare increases,” the airline confirmed.

While capacity cuts – 5% for BA, 12% for EasyJet and a planned 20% for Ryanair – will affect the winter-sun market, ski departures are likely to be most affected, with fewer flights and higher prices to Alpine destinations.

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