Proactive Investors - Gatwick Airport has been forced to reduce the number of flights it can handle this week as air traffic controllers are hit by a bout of illness, including Covid-19.
Near-170 flights could be affected after the airport placed a daily limit on the number of arrivals and departures it can handle until Sunday, October 1.
No more than 800 flights will pass through the single-runway airport each day before then, meaning a peak of 65 scheduled journeys will have to be cancelled or relocated on Friday.
"Given the levels of sickness we have experienced over the last few weeks we believe it is the responsible thing to do to limit the number of flights this week in order to reduce the risk of daily disruption to passengers using the airport,” air traffic controller NATS said.
Around a third of those who work in Gatwick’s air traffic control tower are currently off sick, NATS explained, including with Covid-19.
easyJet (LON:EZJ) looks set to be the worst airline affected, with chief executive John Lundgren backing reduced operations but urging NATS and Gatwick to work to prevent future issues.
“Our call for a more wide-ranging review of Nats remains so the broader issues can be examined,” he said.
A fault that caused NATS’ system to shut down in August had been responsible for a week of travel chaos that saw thousands of flights cancelled and some 300,000 passengers hit.