Gatwick flights cancelled - latest: Calls for air traffic control chief to quit as Covid disruption continues
Nats chief has taken ‘no action’ to resolve air-traffic control staff shortages, Ryanair said
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Your support makes all the difference.Ryanair has demanded the chief executive of air traffic control provider Nats “step down” over Covid-related staff shortages that have caused widespread disruption.
Staff sickness in the control tower meant the “flow rate” of flights using the world’s busiest runway was reduced. Fifty flights to and from Gatwick Airport were cancelled or diverted, while many other services were delayed by up to seven hours.
An estimated 8,000 passengers were left out of position, with eight flights grounded between Gatwick and Belfast – six to and from the Northern Ireland capital’s International airport, and two serving Belfast City.
“It is the most basic requirement to hire and train adequate staff numbers including standby coverage,” a statement from Ryanair read, adding that it pays Nats almost €100m (£87m) annually for air-traffic control services.
“It is clear that Nats CEO, Martin Rolfe, has taken no action to resolve these air-traffic control staff shortages and should now do the right thing and step down as Nats CEO so that someone competent can do the job. We call on the CAA to immediately intervene and protect passengers from this ongoing UK air-traffic control shambles.”
Have you been affected by cancellations? Email alexander.butler@independent.co.uk
Calls for air traffic control chief to quit as Covid disruption continues
Ryanair has demanded the chief executive of air traffic control provider Nats “step down” over Covid-related staff shortages that have caused widespread disruption.
“It is the most basic requirement to hire and train adequate staff numbers including standby coverage,” a statement from Ryanair read, adding that it pays Nats almost €100m (£87m) annually for air-traffic control services.
“Nats has been a shambles for years, causing unnecessary disruptions at UK airports including Bristol, Edinburgh and Manchester, and now Gatwick airport for the past four weeks, including the complete system meltdown on Monday 28 August, which brought UK aviation to its knees – a mess that has still not been explained.
“It is clear that Nats CEO, Martin Rolfe, has taken no action to resolve these air-traffic control staff shortages and should now do the right thing and step down as Nats CEO so that someone competent can do the job. We call on the CAA to immediately intervene and protect passengers from this ongoing UK air-traffic control shambles.”
In a statement, Nats said: “We have worked very closely with Gatwick airport throughout. 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.
“We have trained as many air traffic controllers as possible this year in the Gatwick tower and have safely managed over 180,000 flights so far. However, with 30 per cent of tower staff unavailable for a variety of medical reasons including Covid, we cannot manage the number of flights that were originally planned for this week.”
ICYMI: Simon Calder discusses Gatwick delays and cancellations
In his daily podcast for The Independent, travel correspondent Simon Calder discusses the unprecedented cap on the number of flights at Gatwick airport due to staff sickness among air-traffic staff in the control tower.
Simon Calder says Gatwick Airport flight cancellations due to Covid causing staff shortages
Gatwick flight cancellations to last all week as Covid causes staff shortages
Gatwick Airport is forcing airlines to cancel dozens of flights for the rest of the week because of staff shortages in air-traffic control blamed on Covid.
The airport is imposing a daily cap on the number of flights until Sunday – a move that will see tens of thousands of passengers delayed, cancelled or diverted to other airports.
It is the third air-traffic control slowdown at the airport so far this month, with easyJet being the airline most affected.
Read more:
Gatwick flight chaos to last all week as Covid causes staff shortages
Dozens of easyJet services axed as staff sickness hits airport’s air traffic control tower
Why are so many air-traffic controllers off sick at Gatwick?
Currently 30 per cent of air-traffic controllers who are qualified to work in the control tower at Gatwick are off sick, some with Covid. Many people have questioned why the absence rate is so high.
One reason: the extremely stringent conditions for an air-traffic controller to report for work. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says controllers must not be at work when “unfit to perform the duties due to injury, fatigue, sickness, stress, including critical incident stress or other similar causes” or when they are “under the influence of psychoactive substances”.
The term “psychoactive substances” includes some over-the-counter medicines that may be used to treat common ailments.
The CAA defines psychoactive substances as “alcohol, opioids, cannabinoids, sedatives and hypnotics, cocaine, other psychostimulants, hallucinogens and volatile solvents”. Caffeine and tobacco are specifically excluded.
“Alcohol impairs performance at any level and the impairment increases exponentially with the amount taken,” the CAA says.
“Many medicines, whether prescribed by a doctor or obtained ‘over the counter’ or by other means (e.g. over the internet) and illicit drugs also impair performance.”
What’s the problem at Gatwick Airport and which flights will be cancelled?
In an unprecedented move, Gatwick Airport has ordered airlines to cancel dozens of flights because of sickness among air-traffic controllers – which is currently running at 30 per cent of the available staff.
Cancellations, diversions and delays have happened frequently this month due to staff shortage at Nats, which runs the control tower.
Aircraft movements will be capped at 800 per day at the Sussex airport, which normally has the busiest runway in the world.
Simon Calder reports:
What’s the problem at Gatwick Airport and which flights will be cancelled
25,000 passengers are expected to be told in the next few days that their flights have been culled
What is Nats?
Nats (National Air Traffic Services) provides en-route air traffic control services to flights, controlling the air traffic across a number of UK airports.
It was first created in 1962 to be used by the UK’s military and civil servants, but was restructured in 1992 to become a limited company. From then onwards, it was a subsidiary of the Civil Aviation Authority, which ended the direct involvement of military officers.
The Transport Act (2000) later brought Nats into public-private ownership, with 51 per cent of the company transferred to the private sector.
30 per cent of Gatwick NATS tower staff unavailable for ‘variety of medical reasons’
30 per cent of NATS tower staff at Gatwick are currently unavailable for a “variety of medical reasons” including Covid, the airport has said.
On Monday, Gatwick limited flights to 800 per day until Sunday 1 October in an effort to prevent last-minute cancellations and delays “whilst NATS work through challenges driven by sickness and staffing constraints.”
Before the cap was put in place, the movements anticipated for the week were as follows:
Tuesday - 800
Wednesday - 829
Thursday - 840
Friday - 865
Saturday - 800
Sunday - 830.
“This has been a difficult decision but the action we have taken means our airlines can fly reliable flight programmes, which gives passengers more certainty that they will not face last-minute cancellations”, Stewart Wingate, CEO of London Gatwick, said.
“We are working closely with NATS to build resilience in the control tower, and this decision means we can prevent as much disruptions as possible.
“London Gatwick would like to apologise to any passengers who have been impacted by these restrictions.”
‘We have worked very closely with Gatwick Airport throughout’ - Nats
Nats has maintained that the organisation has worked “very closely” with Gatwick Airport throughout the disruption to flights caused by staff sickness.
“We have worked very closely with Gatwick airport throughout”, a spokesperson for Nats said.
“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.
“We have trained as many air traffic controllers as possible this year in the Gatwick tower and have safely managed over 180,000 flights so far.
“However, with 30% of tower staff unavailable for a variety of medical reasons including Covid, we cannot manage the number of flights that were originally planned for this week.
Nats previously said it is “working in line” with a staffing plan agreed with Gatwick bosses when it took over the provision of ATC services at the airport in October 2022, which includes training further controllers.
Over two-thirds of Brits have experienced delayed or cancelled flight
Over two-thirds of Brits have experienced a delayed flight or cancellation over the last year, data shows.
The research, by travel industry group IBS Software, also shows more than half of those affected were never told why their flights were affected.
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