Gatwick hit by fresh air traffic control disruption delaying thousands
Ilaria Grasso MacolaThousands of travellers were left stranded at Gatwick airport on Thursday afternoon (14 September) after some 42 flights were delayed, diverted or cancelled due to a lack of air traffic control (ATC) staff.
National Air Traffic Services (Nats) was forced to put restrictions in place “due to short-notice staff absence affecting our air traffic control team” at the Sussex airport.
“We are continuing to work closely with the airport to ensure we can help airlines recover their operations as quickly as possible and we apologise very sincerely to everyone who has been inconvenienced,” Nats said in a statement.
The restrictions were met with an uproar from both airlines and passengers alike. Ryanair has called on Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign as it is the third time in two weeks that flights to and from Gatwick have been disrupted due to ATC staff shortages.
“It is unacceptable that more flights and hundreds of passengers are suffering delays to/from Gatwick airport for a third time in just two weeks due to Nats chief executive, Martin Rolfe’s blatant failure to adequately staff UK ATC,” said Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary.
“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 ATC staff shortages.”
Consumer champion Which? has, on the other hand, called on airlines to “meet their legal obligations to look after passengers and provide them with support during delays and help with refunds and rerouting – including with other carriers if necessary”.
TTG understands operations resumed as normal on Friday (15 September) with only one cancellation.
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