London’s Gatwick Airport Faces Crisis: Over 160 Flights Canceled
Passengers walk through the South Terminal building at Gatwick Airport, after the airport reopened to flights following its forced closure because of drone activity, in Gatwick, Britain, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville
London’s Gatwick Airport, the second-largest in the British capital, is grappling with an unprecedented challenge as it cancels more than 160 flights this week. The culprit? A severe shortage of air traffic controllers, exacerbated by a recent surge in Covid-19 cases.
In a statement released on Monday, September 25, the airport revealed that flights will be significantly limited until October 1, with a daily cap of 800 departures and arrivals. This decision, made in coordination with NATS, the UK’s air traffic control service, aims to mitigate the risk of last-minute cancellations and delays for passengers, as NATS grapples with staffing constraints due to illnesses, including Covid-19.
Shockingly, approximately 30 percent of air traffic controllers are currently unavailable for duty due to various medical reasons, with COVID-19 being a significant factor.
Stewart Wingate, the Director of London Gatwick, expressed the airport’s predicament, saying, “This has been a difficult decision, but the action we have taken today means our airlines can fly reliable flight programs, which gives passengers more certainty that they will not face last-minute cancellations.”
This ordeal comes on the heels of a major disruption at the end of August, when nearly 2,000 flights were canceled over two days, leading to widespread delays. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in the UK initiated an independent investigation into the systemic issues that contributed to this breakdown.
As London’s Gatwick Airport navigates these challenges, passengers and the aviation industry at large anxiously await a resolution to this critical issue that affects both travel plans and public safety. Stay tuned for updates as the situation unfolds.
