After scenes of chaos and flight cancellations that have recently affected British airports, the London hub of Gatwick announced Friday to significantly reduce the number of daily flights in July and August.
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“
During this peak holiday period, the airport will carefully and gradually increase its capacity
”, limiting it to 825 flights per day in July and 850 in August, the airport, which operated nearly 900 flights, said in a press release. everyday during those summer months before the pandemic.
The airport refers to "
a serious lack of staff
" which will affect a number of airlines or ground service providers based at Gatwick during the summer season.
If left unaddressed
, this problem will see airport passengers suffer from unreliable and potentially poor service, with more queues, delays and last-minute cancellations
. Gatwick.
A sector struggling to recruit
The airline industry has been one of the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has grounded much traffic amid lockdowns and travel restrictions, leading airlines and airports to lay off thousands of workers. employees.
As demand picks up, the sector is struggling to recruit, a problem which is expected to continue through the summer and which affects the United Kingdom but also airports on the European continent, officials have warned.
Gatwick, which is majority owned by Vinci Airports, was the second UK airport by number of passengers carried before the pandemic.
In a context of still very reduced traffic, it rose last year to third place, behind Stansted, another airport in the capital.
The decision to reduce the number of flights "
will allow airlines to operate and manage more predictable and reliable flight schedules
", as the airport has seen "
a significant and rapid increase
" in traffic, particularly in early June during Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee long weekend.
The chaos in airports in recent months has brought the sector under fire from critics, in particular from the government, which accuses companies of having been ill-prepared for a resumption of traffic, however foreseeable.
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The government “
tried to work with (the main UK hub) Heathrow, Gatwick or the other airport operators.
We want them to do more
,” Business Secretary Paul Scully told SkyNews on Friday.
The sector blames the authorities for not having accelerated the validation procedures for new flight or airport personnel.
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