Gatwick Airport issues strikes update as easyJet cancels 1,700 summer flights

Strikes by workers at Gatwick Airport have been suspended, with union members either accepting or being balloted on new pay offers.

The Unite union has announced that the planned industrial action by DHL workers have been cancelled completely after members voted to accept a 15% pay rise.

General secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is an excellent result secured by the steadfast position of our DHL members. Once again, workers are gaining real material benefits from Unite’s absolute focus on improving jobs, pay and conditions.”

Meanwhile, Unite members employed by private contractors ASC and Menzies are currently being balloted on improved offers, and if  ASC workers reject the pay offer, strikes are scheduled to go ahead between 28 July and 1 August, and 4 to 8 August.

The union said talks with Gatwick Ground Services (GGS) are moving in the right direction and strike action by GGS workers scheduled between 28 July and 1 August has been suspended to allow negotiations to continue. Strike action between 4 and 8 August is currently still scheduled to go ahead if a satisfactory outcome is not reached in time.

Unite regional officer Dominic Rothwell said: “Strikes by DHL workers have now been cancelled. ASC and Menzies workers are being balloted on new offers and talks are progressing with GGS. Unite will be making no further comment until the outcome of the ballots and negotiations are known later this week.”

Gatwick said last week that it is activating contingency plans to cope with the threat of disruption from the walkouts at the height of the summer holiday season.

It comes as the airport is already suffering major disruption due to air traffic control (ATC) restrictions, with strikes, staff shortages and air space closures related to the war in UKraine meaning ATC providers are limiting flights across Europe.

Gatwick is the busiest single-runway airport in the world, but its flight numbers are currently capped at peak times due to the ATC issue.

The problem has forced easyJet, which has Gatwick as its main airport of operations, to cancel 1,700 summer flights due to the threat of disruption. The airline said flights scheduled to depart between July and September have been axed due to air traffic control (ATC) restrictions, most of which are from Gatwick, with the move affecting 180,000 passengers.

A statement from easyJet said: “We are currently operating up to around 1,800 flights and carrying around 250,000 customers per day with more crew and pilots flying than ever before and like all airlines, we review our flights on an ongoing basis.

“As Eurocontrol has stated, the whole industry is seeing challenging conditions this summer with more constrained air space due to the war in Ukraine resulting in unprecedented ATC delays, as well as further potential ATC strike action.

“We have therefore made some pre-emptive adjustments to our programme consolidating a small number of flights at Gatwick, where we have multiple daily frequencies, in order to help mitigate these external challenges on the day of travel for our customers, and we continue to operate around 90,000 flights over this period.

“Customers whose flights are affected are being informed, with 95% of customers being rebooked onto an alternative flight and all customers provided with the option to rebook or receive a refund. We are sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused.”

ATC restrictions due to strikes, staff shortages and airspace closures related to the war in Ukraine are expected to be among the biggest problems facing airlines this summer. Eurocontrol, which manages European airspace, recently warned that demand from airlines “might get close to capacity” for ATC in large parts of Europe, including London, Brussels and Madrid, with Fridays and weekends expected to be most at risk of disruption.