Thousands of passengers flying to and from the UK have had their flights cancelled after a combination of bad weather and air-traffic control staff shortages.
Around 3,500 passengers expecting to fly to or from London Gatwick on 20 flights on Monday morning have been grounded. Most are booked on easyJet, which cancelled its first flight of the day, to Ibiza, and six others including links to Naples and Nice.
Passengers were told the cause was “air-traffic control restrictions” outside the airline’s control.
The cancellations are in addition to 64 flights grounded by easyJet on Sunday 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 – such as the Wizz Air flight to Rome that was due to arrive soon after midnight but actually arrived in the Italian capital shortly before 6am, and an easyJet departure to Lyon that ran four hours behind schedule.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has called for the resignation of the chief executive of air traffic control (ATC) provider Nats.
What flights have been delayed or cancelled?
08:51
Jabed Ahmed
Around 3,500 passengers expecting to fly to or from London Gatwick on 20 flights on Monday morning have been grounded.
Most are booked on EasyJet, which cancelled its first flight of the day, to Ibiza, and six others including links to Naples and Nice.
Passengers were told the cause was “air-traffic control restrictions” and outside the airline’s control.
The cancellations are in addition to 64 flights grounded by easyJet on Sunday due to short-notice staff shortage in Gatwick’s control tower.
EasyJet said on Sunday evening that it was “extremely disappointed that customers are once again being impacted by this”.
In terms of the sheer scale of disruption over one of the busiest weekends of the year, British Airways passengers trying to fly to or from London Heathrow have been worst affected.
Between Friday and Sunday BA cancelled 240 flights, affecting around 40,000 passengers. On Monday the airline had grounded a further eight departures and arrivals at Heathrow, plus six at Gatwick.
Ryanair boss calls for air traffic control chief to resign
08:47
Jabed Ahmed
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has issued fresh calls for the resignation of the chief executive of air traffic control (ATC) provider Nats.
Mr O’Leary urged Martin Rolfe to step down and “allow someone competent” to take over after flights were disrupted at Gatwick Airport on Sunday due to “Nats staff shortages”.
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.”
Welcome to our live coverage
08:45
Jabed Ahmed
Welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the mass flight delays and cancellations across the UK.
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