Thousands of Brits have flights cancelled due to yet another ATC issue
THOUSANDS of Brits have had their flights cancelled due to more air traffic control (ATC) issues.
It comes just weeks after hundreds of thousands of Brits were left stranded abroad after an ATC issue.
The Nats technical glitch last week caused widespread disruption at airports across the UK.
And around 58 flights were cancelled to and from Gatwick Airport last night, in another ATC issue, affecting around 9,000 passengers.
EasyJet, which operates the most flights at the West Sussex airport, was the worst affected, with 42 cancellations.
Among the other airlines to cancel flights from Gatwick on Wednesday night were Lufthansa, Norwegian, Iberia Express and Vueling.
Affected passengers are not entitled to compensation as the disruption was outside of the airlines’ control.
Gatwick Airport said it was subjected to a restriction in the number of planes that could take off and land because of “short notice sickness” in its ATC tower, which is managed by National Air Traffic Services (Nats).
EasyJet said in a statement: “Nats air traffic control staffing shortages at Gatwick yesterday led to a significantly reduced flow rate being imposed on airlines, meaning some flights were delayed and some were unable to operate.
“While this was outside of our control, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused to our customers and did all possible to minimise the impact of the disruption, notifying those on cancelled flights of options to rebook or receive a refund and provided hotel accommodation and meals where required.”
A Gatwick Airport spokeswoman said: “Due to short-notice sickness in the air traffic control tower, temporary air traffic control restrictions were put in place yesterday (Wednesday), resulting in some delays and cancellations by airlines.
“London Gatwick would like to apologise to any passengers who have been impacted by these restrictions. Please contact your airline for more information.”
But easyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren warned that passengers were “being let down once again” and claimed Nats’ “staff shortages” had resulted in disruption at Gatwick on 29 different days since May.
Mr Lundgren said: “Customers are being let down once again. Since May, we have seen 29 days of traffic restrictions at Gatwick due to Nats’ staff shortages.
“An independent and wide-ranging review of Nats has never been more urgent.”
Nats was approached for a comment.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced on Wednesday that an independent review would be carried out into last week’s ATC failure.
Passengers departing from UK airports and ports also saw longer wait times on Wednesday due to enhanced security checks as the authorities search for an escaped prisoner.
And flights to and from a Greek island have been cancelled due to flooding, with Brits also left stranded abroad.