New COVID wave forces flight cancellations at Gatwick Airport

Gatwick Airport has been forced to reduce its number of flights over the next week as a result of shortage of air traffic control staff.

According to Evening Standard, the airport said it expected some 82 flights over the coming week to be cancelled, which comes on top of delays and cancellations on Sunday and Monday.

“We are working closely with National Air Traffic (NATS) to build resilience in the control tower, and this decision means we can prevent as much disruptions as possible.

“London Gatwick would like to apologise to any passengers who have been impacted by these restrictions,” the airport stated.

The planned cancellations account for around three per cent of planned departures.

Read also: Gatwick Airport passenger record a pointer to opportunities for Nigeria

Data from tracking website FlightRadar24 earlier Monday revealed that 64 flights to or from the West Sussex airport were axed over the past two days.

EasyJet made up dozens of the flights affected with some passengers facing delays of up to seven hours.

Read also: NCDC says Eris, Pirola Covid-19 variant not in Nigeria

The airline said it was “extremely disappointed” by the issue which saw eight flights cancelled to and from Belfast. Other flights to or from Edinburgh, Geneva and Paris were also impacted.

An easyJet spokesperson said: “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 to our customers.

“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.”