The London Gatwick Airport announced yesterday, Monday, that forced to cancel over 160 flights until Sunday due unusual shortage of auditorsmainly due to COVID-19.
The number of flights will be limited “to 800 daily” (departures and arrivals) and this will last “until Saturday 1 October”, the airport said in a statement, in which it clarified that the decision was made in agreement with NATS, the British air traffic control authority. This daily cap “will allow for last-minute cancellations and delays to be avoided while NATS resolves issues related to sick (leaves) and staff limitation“, is also pointed out in the announcement of the airport, as broadcast by APE-MPE.
30% of controllers are currently unavailable “for various medical reasons, including COVID-19“, it is clarified. “It was a difficult decision, but the measure we are taking today (Monday) means airlines will be able to fly on a reliable schedule,” explained Stuart Wingate, director of London Gatwick, which is the second most important airport in London after Heathrow.
The difficulties faced by British authority air traffic control they come after giant breakdown at the end of August which resulted in the cancellation of nearly 2,000 flights over two days and many delays. Britain’s civil aviation authority CAA had announced an independent investigation into “the wider issues surrounding the system failure and how NATS responded to the incident”.
Source: News Beast
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