Due to a lack of air traffic controllers, many of whom are ill with Covid-19, London’s Gatwick Airport has to limit its number of flights until Sunday.
London’s Gatwick Airport said on Monday that it was forced to cancel more than 160 flights through Sunday due to an extraordinary shortage of air traffic controllers, particularly due to Covid-19 cases.
The number of flights will be limited “to 800 per day” (departures and arrivals) and this “until Saturday, October 1st,” the airport announced in a press release, which stated that the decision was made in agreement with NATS, The British air traffic control authority was hit.
This daily cap “will help prevent last-minute cancellations and delays for passengers while NATS resolves the issues surrounding sick leave and staffing shortages,” the press release continued.
Preventive measures
He states that 30% of controllers are currently unavailable “for various medical reasons, including Covid”.
“It was a difficult decision, but the measures we are taking today (Monday) mean airlines can fly on a reliable schedule,” said Stewart Wingate, director of London Gatwick, London’s second busiest airport after Heathrow.
These difficulties for the British air traffic control authority are due to a major breakdown at the end of August, which led to the cancellation of almost 2,000 flights in two days and numerous delays.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had announced an independent investigation into “the wider issues surrounding the system failure and the way NATS responded to the incident”.