Disruptions in UK air travel persist as Gatwick and Heathrow experience numerous additional flight cancellations.

For the fourth consecutive day, thousands of travelers flying to and from the UK have experienced flight cancellations due to a combination of adverse Disruptions in UK air travel persist as Gatwick and Heathrow experience numerous additional flight cancellations and a shortage of air traffic control personnel, resulting in the cancellation of hundreds of flights.

On Monday morning, approximately 3,500 passengers scheduled to travel to or from London Gatwick on 20 flights were left stranded. The majority of these flights were operated by easyJet, which canceled its first flight of the day to Ibiza, along with six others, including routes to Naples and Nice.

Passengers were informed that the cancellations were attributed to "air-traffic control restrictions," which were beyond the airline's control.

These cancellations added to the 64 flights that easyJet grounded on Sunday due to a last-minute staff shortage at Gatwick's control tower.

On Sunday evening, at least 100 flights were canceled at Gatwick, with others experiencing significant delays. For instance, a Wizz Air flight to Rome, originally scheduled to arrive shortly after midnight, did not reach the Italian capital until just before 6 a.m., while an easyJet flight to Lyon was delayed by four hours.

This marks the third instance of widespread cancellations linked to staff shortages at the Gatwick control tower within the past year.

The control tower is managed by the air navigation service provider Nats, which stated on Sunday night that it was working to "minimize disruption."

A spokesperson commented, "Temporary air-traffic restrictions are currently in effect at London Gatwick Airport to ensure safety. These restrictions stem from unexpected staff absences at the air traffic control tower, in addition to pre-existing restrictions due to adverse weather conditions across the UK and Europe."

"We anticipate that all restrictions will be lifted by the end of the day."

However, as cancellations persisted into Monday, Ryanair renewed its call for the resignation of Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of Nats. A spokesperson for Europe’s largest low-cost airline remarked, "This is yet another incident in a series of mismanagement by UK Nats, which has once again caused significant disruption to numerous flights and thousands of passengers at Gatwick."

EasyJet expressed its profound disappointment on Sunday evening regarding the ongoing impact on customers.

Ben Bradshaw, a former Labour cabinet minister and the acting chair of the Transport Select Committee, has called for a leadership overhaul at the Sussex airport.

He stated, “This situation Is utterly disgraceful and has persisted for years. Gatwick requires new leadership. In the meantime, I suggest considering Luton airport, which offers many of the same destinations with significantly fewer delays.”

Gatwick Airport, recognized as the busiest single-runway airport globally, manages over 800 flight movements daily.

A spokesperson for Gatwick commented, “NATS operates the air traffic control tower at London Gatwick and has successfully increased the number of air traffic controllers in recent months.

So far in 2024, London Gatwick has safely managed over 170,000 flights through NATS, marking a four percent increase compared to the previous year.

The NATS service has been available more than 99.6 percent of the time, operating around the clock.”

“We will continue to collaborate closely with the NATS leadership team to ensure a high-quality service for passengers and airlines. London Gatwick sincerely apologizes to any passengers who faced disruptions yesterday.”

British Airways passengers traveling to or from London Heathrow experienced significant disruption during one of the busiest weekends of the year. From Friday to Sunday, the airline canceled 240 flights, impacting approximately 40,000 travelers. On Monday, an additional eight flights were grounded at Heathrow, along with six at Gatwick.

One affected passenger, Mike C, shared on X: “This morning BA canceled my 1pm flight at 4:15am. The helpline didn’t open until 6am. I had to request a refund and book with another airline – a cash flow issue.”

A representative from British Airways stated: “We operate hundreds of flights daily without issues, successfully transporting tens of thousands of customers to their destinations.

“Like other airlines, we have made minor adjustments to our schedule due to air traffic control restrictions stemming from adverse weather conditions.

“While the majority of our customers remain unaffected, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and assure you that our teams are diligently working to restore normal operations.”