Gatwick problems grow as flight delays spark airport chaos | UK News

Air traffic control staff shortages at Gatwick Airport has seen thousands of passengers affected by cancelled, delayed or diverted flights.

More than 6,000 people are thought to have been affected after 42 flights were cancelled or diverted, while dozens more were heavily delayed.

The airport, near Crawley in West Sussex, confirmed a short notice staff absence in its air traffic control tower operated by National Air Traffic Services (Nats). It is thought a controller was unwell.

Flights appear to be running again this morning, but many arrivals and departures are still delayed.

Just two weeks ago an air traffic control failure caused widespread flight disruption across the UK, leaving thousands stranded both at home and abroad.

Laura Neary, 29, was due to catch a Ryanair flight to Dublin at 5.30pm yesterday, but had to get a coach to Essex after it was diverted to London Stansted.

The sales worker from Ireland said: ‘I don’t even know if I can get back to Dublin tonight.’

Some people have been left on the airport floor once again, and others claim they were stuck in long Border Force queues at the south terminal.

Passenger Caroline Monks told ITV: ‘Our whole holiday could be cancelled. We’d be losing our whole holiday if we can’t get another flight.’ 

Fellow flyer Debbie Barrett agreed, adding it was ‘disgusting’ the way passengers had been treated: ‘We’ve had no updates, they’ve just left us.’

Another passenger called Sarah Burnham said: ‘We couldn’t find anywhere to sleep so we decided to stay here.’ 

Sally Richards, who was on a diverted flight to Brussels, said: ‘Just as we were crossing the Channel we were told they had received a message saying Gatwick was closed and they had no idea why. 

‘We’ve got back to Britain and it feels like Britain is simply not working.’

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary called on the chief executive of Nats to resign, and easyJet said it was ‘very disappointed’ by the repeated issues.

Mr O’Leary said: ‘It is unacceptable that more flights and hundreds of passengers are suffering delays to/from Gatwick Airport due to Nats CEO Martin Rolfe’s blatant failure to adequately staff UK air traffic control.

‘Airlines are paying millions of pounds to Nats each and every year and should not have to see their passengers suffer avoidable delays due to UK air traffic control staff shortages.’

An easyJet spokesperson said: “We are very disappointed that customers are once

Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of Advantage Travel Partnership, a network of independent travel agents, called the situation ‘unacceptable’ and said the problem would have ‘huge financial implications for airlines, travel agents and the entire ecosystem’.

Some 14 departures and 12 arrivals were cancelled at Gatwick from 5pm onwards yesterday, and 16 arrivals were diverted via airports including Bournemouth, Cardiff, Heathrow, Luton and Stansted.

Nats said in a statement: ‘Air traffic control restrictions have been put in place this afternoon due to a short notice staff absence affecting our air traffic control team at Gatwick Airport.

‘We are working closely with the airport to ensure we can handle flights with as little disruption as possible and we apologise very sincerely to people who have been inconvenienced [as a result of unavoidable diversions].

‘We are working closely with Gatwick Airport Ltd to build resilience in the airport’s control tower to ensure disruption is kept to a minimum.

‘New air traffic controllers have been recruited since last summer, increasing our presence by 17%, and others are due to start after completing their training, in line with the agreed plan when Nats took over the contract last October.

‘London Gatwick’s senior management understands that we are working hard to keep the operation moving.

‘Airlines operating at London Gatwick were aware of the situation when Nats was appointed but that does not dilute the apology we offer sincerely to them and their passengers who have been inconvenienced by recent disruption.’

Gatwick Airport told passengers to contact their airlines for information.

‘We are working closely with Nats to build resilience in the airport’s control tower to ensure disruption is kept to a minimum,’ a spokesperson added.

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