Gatwick Airport will reduce its summer capacity to prevent potential chaos after dozens of last-minute cancellations shattered holidaymakers’ travel plans during the platinum anniversary and half-term vacation.
London’s second busiest airport will limit the number of daily take-offs and landings to 850 in August – about 50 more than the average in early June, but more than 10% below the pre-pandemic high.
The airport is the largest base for easyJet, which operates more than half of Gatwick’s slots, and the airline said it would review details. It will probably have to cut its summer schedules after making hundreds of last-minute cancellations, more than any other carrier in the UK, in recent weeks due to a number of problems.
The move comes after the Ministry of Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority told the industry this week to ensure sales on sale were “affordable” and called on airport chief executives to set up working groups with airlines and ground staff to reduce to minimize the risk of summer interruption.
Gatwick said it was “temporarily slowing growth” to allow airlines to “manage more predictable and reliable flight programs” for the peak summer vacation period.
An inspection of the airport found that a number of companies would still be severely understaffed over the summer, which could lead to airport passengers “continuing to experience unreliable and potentially poor standards of service” – including more queues, delays and last -minute cancellations.
The main concern was considered to be the ground handling companies hired by the airlines to manage the check-in areas, turn the plane around at the airport and process the luggage.
Gatwick’s chief executive, Stuart Wingate, said there had been a “remarkable turnaround” in the number of flights, quadrupled since January, and that the airport had reopened its southern terminal and recruited 400 new security personnel.
“All major airports were stretched in half a semester and we are no exception. We urge airlines now to plan only the flights they are confident they will perform. ”
He said more air traffic controllers are based in Gatwick now than in 2019, and Gatwick has security staff to handle 900 flights a day. But he added: “It is clear that during the anniversary week, a number of companies operating at the airport were experiencing difficulties, especially due to staff shortages. By taking decisive action now, we are working to help ground staff – and also our airlines – better combine their flight programs with their available resources.
“As has already been the case, most of the flights during the summer will be operated normally.
An easyJet spokesman said: “We are aware of the capacity limit announced by Gatwick and are now reviewing the details to assess what this means for easyJet Gatwick’s performance.
“We recognize the need for Gatwick to do this, as airports across Europe have visibility across all airlines and are well placed to decide what capacity is realistic in this challenging operating environment so that all airlines can provide reliable services to their customers. .
“Given the high frequencies of our services to and from Gatwick, we expect to be able to re-accommodate the majority of customers whose flights are affected by the restriction.”
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, another major European base for easyJet, was expected to make a similar announcement, limiting the total daily number of passengers this summer. Customers are facing huge queues and widespread cancellations in recent weeks.
The industry blamed the chaos on labor shortages and the difficulty of clearing enough new employees through security checks as demand for travel recovered when restrictions were lifted abruptly after the pandemic.
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