2023-09-25 22:23:09
London’s Gatwick Airport announced on Monday that it would be forced to cancel more than 160 flights by Sunday due to an exceptional shortage of controllers, particularly due to cases of Covid-19.
The number of flights will be limited “to 800 per day” (on departure and arrival) and this “until Saturday October 1”, indicated the airport in a press release, which specifies that the decision was taken in agreement with NATS, the British air traffic control authority.
This daily ceiling “will help avoid last-minute cancellations and delays for passengers while NATS resolves problems linked to sick leave and staff constraints,” the press release further details. 30% of controllers are currently unavailable “for various medical reasons, including Covid”, he specifies.
“This has been a difficult decision but the action we are taking today (Monday) means that airlines will be able to fly on a reliable flight schedule,” explained Stewart Wingate, director of London Gatwick, the second largest airport. of London behind Heathrow.
These difficulties affecting the British air traffic control authority come following a giant breakdown at the end of August which led to the cancellation of almost 2,000 flights over two days and numerous delays.
The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had announced an independent investigation into “the wider issues around the system failure and the way in which NATS responded to the incident”.
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