London Gatwick Airport imposes flight limits in summer to halt mass disruption.
Managers at the UK’s second busiest airport, London Gatwick are instigating a daily flight limit for July and August to try and halt the mass disruption that has been seen at many airports in recent weeks.
During this peak holiday period, Gatwick is only gradually increasing its capacity to 825 flights a day in July and then up to 850 flights a day in August. The idea is to enable airlines, handling firms and controllers more time and space to be able to offer a more reliable standard of service. Traditionally, the airport would handle up to 900 flights a day during those months.
Gatwick has already seen over 10 million passengers travel through the airport in the first 6 months of this year and is trying to help its airline customers deliver the best and most reliable service possible over the next few months.
A review by the airport has uncovered that a number of companies based at Gatwick are, and will continue to, operate with a severe lack of staff resources over the summer holiday period. If not addressed, this issue would see airport passengers continuing to experience an unreliable and potentially poor standard of service, including more queues, delays and last-minute cancellations.
Gatwick says it is imperative each airline also reviews operational capabilities and puts flight schedules in place that are both realistic and aligned with available crew and ground handling resources.
Stewart Wingate, CEO of Gatwick Airport said: “Gatwick prepared well for the restart of international travel by successfully reopening our South Terminal and we have now successfully recruited 400 new colleagues to help us process passengers quickly through security this summer. We are also working closely with our airlines to avoid disruption to passengers this summer, and while more newly recruited staff will start work in the coming weeks, we know it will be a busy summer.
“However, it is clear that during the Jubilee week a number of companies operating at the airport struggled in particular, because of staff shortages. By taking decisive action now, we aim to help the ground handlers – and also our airlines – to better match their flying programmes with their available resources.
“As has already been the case, the vast majority of flights over the summer will operate as normal, and the steps taken today mean that our passengers can expect a more reliable and better standard of service, while also improving conditions for staff working at the airport.
“I am immensely grateful to all our staff for their tireless work over the last few months to get the airport back up and running, and for helping get passengers away on their travels.”
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