Gatwick Airport cancels flights - easyJet, BA, and Ryanair all affected

Passengers are facing more chaos at Gatwick where 164 flights are being cancelled over the coming week due to Covid and other sickness affecting air traffic control staff.

It said it is temporarily limiting flights to give passengers certainty following recent delays and cancellations brought about by air traffic control problems. The airport's CEO Stewart Wingate said that 30% of air traffic control staff are not available and that it is "very frustrating".

Gatwick plans to spread the cancellations out proportionally until Sunday and easyJet is set to be the worst affected as it operates just under half of the flights from the airport. But British Airways and Ryanair passengers will also be affected.

People travelling on Friday could be affected the worst with 865 flights scheduled to leave. The airport and airlines are expected to announce the flights affected on Tuesday.

There will be about 29 fewer flights on Wednesday, 40 fewer on Thursday, 65 fewer on Friday and 30 fewer on Sunday. The daily cap is to prevent last-minute cancellations and delays for passengers, who are being told to check with their airlines about their flights.

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The airport stated: "The decision was made alongside NATS, who run the London Gatwick air traffic control tower, and means the airport will be limited to 800 flights a day. This means both departure and arrival flights. The restrictions start today and will remain in place until Sunday, 1 October.

"The daily cap will prevent last-minute cancellations and delays for passengers while NATS work through challenges driven by sickness and staffing constraints. Passengers are advised to check the status of their flights directly with their airlines, who we’ve been closely working with at this time."

Stewart Wingate, CEO of London Gatwick, said: “This has been a difficult decision but the action we have taken today means our airlines can fly reliable flight programmes, which gives passengers more certainty that they will not face last minute cancellations.

“We are working closely with NATS to build resilience in the control tower, and this decision means we can prevent as much disruptions as possible. London Gatwick would like to apologise to any passengers who have been impacted by these restrictions.”

Johan Lundgren, CEO of easyJet, reacting to the temporary capacity limit at Gatwick, told The Mirror: “While it is regrettable that a temporary limit on capacity at Gatwick Airport is required, we believe that it is the right action by the airport so on the day cancellations and delays can be avoided.

“Gatwick Airport and NATS now need to work on longer term plan so the resilience of ATC at Gatwick is improved and fit for purpose. Our call for a more wide-ranging review of NATS remains so the broader issues can be examined so it can deliver robust services to passengers now and in the future.

"EasyJet will now work with the airport to work through what this means for our flying programme and will notify any customers whose flights are affected as soon as possible with their options to rebook or receive a refund. While this is outside of our control, we apologise for any inconvenience."

Nats apologised to passengers in a statement, but said that a variety of medical reasons means "we cannot manage the number of flights that were originally planned for this week". It said: "We have worked very closely with Gatwick airport throughout. Given the levels of sickness we have experienced over the last few weeks we believe it is the responsible thing to do to limit the number of flights this week in order to reduce the risk of daily disruption to passengers using the airport."

Nats added: "Our operational resilience in the tower will improve as our staff return to work and we move out of the summer schedule, which is particularly busy at Gatwick. We continue to train additional air traffic controllers and expect another group to qualify to work in the tower over coming months, ready for next summer.

"Even an experienced air traffic controller takes at least nine months to qualify at Gatwick and very few are able to do so, as Gatwick is such a busy and complex air traffic environment."

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Airlines were affected when about 1,500 flights due to serve airports across the UK were cancelled and many others were delayed on August 28, which was a bank holiday and one of the busiest days of the year for travel. An initial inquiry by Nats found the problem was caused by its system failing to process a flight plan correctly.

The Mirror has contacted British Airways and Ryanair for comment.