London Gatwick is a major gateway to the United Kingdom
As the strike by Air Traffic Control staff in the United Kingdom continued, operations at London Gatwick airport turned chaotic on Sunday with over 100 flights cancelled.
According to a press statement by the National Air Traffic Systems (NATS), the air-traffic control provider that runs the ATC tower at Gatwick, temporary air traffic restrictions are currently in place at the airport ‘in order to maintain safety’.
The cancellations impacted over 15,000 passengers and the affected airlines ranged from British Airways to various European low-cost carriers like Wizz Air and Veuling. But EasyJet, another low-cost carrier, was the worst affected as LGW is one of its key European hubs and it saw 64 of its flights cancelled on Sunday.
While most of the cancellations were short-haul European flights, Turkish Airlines cancelled its evening flights from and to Istanbul to London Gatwick. Long-haul operations were fortunately spared any disruption and two flights operated by Air India from London Gatwick, one each to Kochi and Ahmedabad, both departed for their destinations on schedule on Sunday.
Incidentally, as it marked the end of summer vacations for many British travellers, Sunday was one of the busiest and most lucrative days of the year for airlines.
“These restrictions are due to short-notice staff absence at the air traffic control tower and in addition to existing restrictions already in place due to adverse weather across UK and Europe. We apologise sincerely for the inconvenience and are working closely with the airport and airlines to try and keep disruption to a minimum,” said NATS in the statement.
EasyJet said that four round-trips between Gatwick and Amsterdam were axed, along with two return journeys to each of Faro, Paris, Geneva and Belfast. Key flights to and from Heraklion in Crete, Naples and Lisbon were also cancelled.
“NATS air-traffic control staffing shortages at Gatwick led to a significantly reduced flow rate being imposed on all airlines today which is resulting in flights to and from Gatwick airport being subject to disruption including some cancellations. We are extremely disappointed that customers are once again being impacted by this and while this is outside of our control, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused,’’ said EasyJet in a press statement.
“We are doing all possible to minimise the impact of the disruption and have notified those on cancelled flights of their options to rebook or receive a refund and are providing hotel accommodation and meals where required,” it added.
“London Gatwick apologises to any passengers impacted by these restrictions. Please contact your airline for more information,” said the airport operator in a press statement.
The strike by ATC personnel in the UK has also hit London Heathrow since Friday and so far a total of 300 flights have been cancelled between the two key airports.