Gatwick Airport cancellations: Mass flight delays and cancellations after staff shortages; Ryanair CEO calls on air traffic control chief to quit

Around 3,500 passengers expecting to fly to or from London Gatwick on 20 flights this morning (Monday 9 September) have been grounded. Most of the flights are easyJet which cancelled its flight to Ibiza this morning.

Passengers were told the cause was “air-traffic control restrictions” outside the airline’s control. The cancelled flights this morning comes after 64 flights were grounded by easyJet on Sunday (8 September) due to short-notice staff shortage in Gatwick’s control tower.

At least 100 flights were cancelled on Sunday evening at Gatwick, and others ran extremely late. British Airways also cancelled dozens of flights to and from Heathrow Airport on Sunday due to wet weather.

Amid the chaos, Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary is calling for the resignation of the chief executive of air traffic control (ATC) provider Nats. Mr O’Leary said: “UK Nats staff shortages caused multiple flight delays and cancellations at Gatwick Airport yesterday, Sunday September 8. This is the latest in a long line of cock-ups by UK Nats, which has yet again disrupted multiple flights and thousands of passengers at Gatwick. Airlines and passengers deserve better.

“Ryanair again calls on UK Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe to step down and allow someone competent to run an efficient UK ATC service, which airlines and passengers are entitled to expect. If he won’t go, then (new Transport Secretary) Louise Haigh should sack him.”

A spokesperson for easyJet said: “Nats air-traffic control staffing shortages at Gatwick led to a significantly reduced flow rate being imposed on all airlines today which is resulting in flights to and from Gatwick airport being subject to disruption including some cancellations. We are extremely disappointed that customers are once again being impacted by this and while this is outside of our control, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused. We are doing all possible to minimise the impact of the disruption and have notified those on cancelled flights of their options to rebook or receive a refund and are providing hotel accommodation and meals where required.”

Gatwick control tower said on Sunday night it was trying to “keep disruption to a minimum”. A spokesperson said: “Temporary air-traffic restrictions are currently in place at London Gatwick Airport in order to maintain safety.

“These restrictions are due to short-notice staff absence at the air traffic control tower and in addition to existing restrictions already in place due to adverse weather across UK and Europe. We expect all restrictions to be lifted by the end of the day.”