London flight cancellations: Thousands of passengers affected by UK flight chaos at Heathrow and Gatwick

Around 3,500 passengers expecting to fly to or from London Gatwick on 20 flights on Monday morning (September 9) have been grounded. Most of the flights are easyJet which cancelled its flight to Ibiza this morning.

Passengers were told the cause was “air-traffic control restrictions” and outside the airline’s control.

The cancelled flights this morning come after 64 flights were grounded by easyJet on Sunday (September 8) due to short-notice staff shortage in Gatwick’s control tower.

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At least 100 flights were cancelled on Sunday evening at Gatwick, and others ran extremely late. British Airways also cancelled dozens of flights to and from Heathrow Airport on Sunday due to wet weather.

It was the third incident of mass cancellations due to staff shortage in the Gatwick control tower in less than a year.

The tower is run by the air-navigation provider Nats, which said on Sunday night it was trying to “keep disruption to a minimum”.

A spokesperson said: “Temporary air-traffic restrictions are currently in place at London Gatwick Airport in order to maintain safety. These restrictions are due to short-notice staff absence at the air traffic control tower and in addition to existing restrictions already in place due to adverse weather across UK and Europe.

“We expect all restrictions to be lifted by the end of the day.”

Amid the chaos, Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary is calling for the resignation of the chief executive of Nats. 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.”

EasyJet said on Sunday evening that it was “extremely disappointed that customers are once again being impacted by this”.

According to the Independent, 240 British Airways flights were cancelled between Friday and Sunday affecting 40,000 passengers. On Monday the airline had grounded a further eight departures and arrivals at Heathrow, plus six at Gatwick.

LondonWorld has contacted British Airways for comment.