Gatwick cuts flight numbers over summer in bid to avoid more disruption
Following months of air travel disruption, Gatwick Airport said it will cut the number of flights over the school holiday period in a bid to improve services.
Britain’s second biggest airport will limit the number of take-offs from a reported daily average of 900 over recent months to 825 in July, and then up to 850 per day in August.
This comes after thousands of passengers experienced delays and cancelled flights owing largely to staff shortages.
In a statement published this morning, the airport said it is “ temporarily moderating its rate of growth” for the next two months which will “allow airlines to fly and manage more predictable and reliable flight programmes”
The disruption, the airport said, was due to a “significant and rapid upturn in air traffic levels” with more than 10m passengers passing through in the first half of 2022 alone.
Following a review, the airport said many airlines had a “severe lack of staff resources over the summer holiday period” so the reduction in flights was a way of “carefully controlling” passenger flow and improving the overall service.
Gatwick also urged all airlines to review “operational capabilities” and implement schedules “that are both realistic and aligned with available crew and ground handling resources.”
The chief executive of the airport, Stewart Wingate said “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.”
While saying the vast majority of flights will still go ahead, the reduction will “mean that our passengers can expect a more reliable and better standard of service, while also improving conditions for staff working at the airport.