Thousands of British passengers will have their flights to or from Gatwick Airport cancelled until next Sunday due to a lack of air traffic controllers because 30% of their staff are on sick leave due to a Covid outbreak. The airport management have decided to restrict the number of slots to avoid planes being diverted to other airports.
This means that 164 flights are being cancelled which they will try to distribute equally among the different airlines that operate at the airport. However, easyJet could be one of the most affected, as it concentrates just under half of its activity at Gatwick airport.
The cap means there will be the following number of planned flights called off:
· Wednesday 27 September: 29 fewer flights.
· Thursday 28 September: 40 fewer flights.
· Friday 29 September: 65 fewer flights.
· Saturday 30 September: no cancellations.
· Sunday 1 October: 30 fewer flights.
Gatwick has advised passengers to check the status of their flights directly with their airlines, as they will inform passengers if a flight is being cancelled a day before it is set to take off.
The airport management has explained that this measure is taken to reduce the chaos that last-minute cancellations usually cause and, thus, allow passengers more time to reschedule their trips. The chief executive of London-Gatwick Airport, Stewart Wingate, has admitted that it has been “a difficult decision to make”, but that he is trying to “give certainty” to airlines and passengers.
This has been confirmed by the CEO of easyJet, Johan Lundgren, who said: “While it is regrettable that a temporary capacity limit is required at Gatwick Airport, we believe it is the correct action by the airport to avoid last-minute cancellations and delays.”
It should be remembered that various airlines fly from London-Gatwick Airport to numerous Spanish destinations in the Costa del Sol, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and the Costa Blanca, among others.
