On Monday, September 25, London's Gatwick Airport announced the cancellation of more than 160 flights scheduled for this week due to an exceptional shortage of air

traffic controllers, partly caused by an increase in Covid-19 cases.

The airport stated that flight operations will be limited to 800 flights per day (departures and arrivals) until October 1. This decision was made in collaboration with NATS, the UK's air traffic control service. The daily ceiling aims to prevent last-minute flight cancellations and delays for passengers while NATS addresses challenges arising from staff sickness and staffing constraints.

Approximately 30% of controllers are currently unavailable due to various medical reasons, including Covid-19.

Stewart Wingate, the director of London Gatwick, the second-largest airport in London after Heathrow, stated, "This has been a difficult decision, but the action we have taken today means our airlines can maintain reliable flight schedules, providing passengers with more certainty regarding last-minute cancellations."

These recent challenges follow a major disruption at the end of August, resulting in the cancellation of nearly 2,000 flights over two days, along with numerous delays. The UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced an independent investigation into the broader issues related to the system failure. Photo by Mike McBey, Wikimedia commons.