Gatwick puts capacity cap on summer flights
Will PayneGatwick has introduced a temporary capacity cap on flights this summer in a bid to moderate its growth for July and August.
The move comes in a bid to allow airlines to fly and manage more predictable and reliable flight programmes for the rest of the peak school summer holiday period and to give passengers certainty this summer.
During the peak holiday period, the airport will "carefully and gradually" increase its declared capacity – starting at 825 flights a day in July and then up to 850 flights a day in August – so passengers experience a "more reliable and better standard" of service.
The move follows a "significant and rapid" upturn in air traffic levels at the London airport which saw around 800 flights use the runway on average each day during the Jubilee holiday week. Gatwick has already seen more than 10 million passengers travel through the airport in the first six months of the year.
A review carried out by the airport found a number of companies based at Gatwick are operating with a "severe" lack of staff resources over the summer holiday period.
According to the airport, if not addressed, this issue would see passengers continue to experience an "unreliable and potentially poor" standard of service, including more queues, delays and last-minute cancellations.
The majority of scheduled flights this summer will operate as normal and the move to manage the airport’s declared capacity is designed to provide passengers with a better, more predictable level of service.
Stewart Wingate, chief executive of Gatwick, said the airport "prepared well" for the restart of international travel by reopening its South Terminal and recruiting 400 staff members to help process passengers quickly through security.
"We are also working closely with our airlines to avoid disruption to passengers this summer, and while more newly recruited staff will start work in coming weeks, we know it will be a busy summer," he added.
"However, it is clear that during the Jubilee week a number of companies operating at the airport struggled in particular, because of staff shortages. By taking decisive action now, we aim to help the ground handlers – and also our airlines – to better match their flying programmes with their available resources."
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