Gatwick Airport is suffering a "meltdown every night" due to staff shortages in the air traffic control tower, insiders have revealed.
The lack of staff means bosses have repeatedly been forced to put restrictions on the number of flights arriving and taking off from the UK's second largest airport, according to reports.
At one point last week the number of arrivals per hour was slashed from 34 to 22, piling misery on passengers.
It comes as easyJet pilots warn the summer's travel chaos hasn't peaked yet.
A source told The Times that there have been "repeated issues" with air traffic control restrictions at Gatwick.
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They said that the airport suffers a "nightly meltdown" with accumulated delays, adding: "By the end of the day it can be the case that airlines are forced to cancel the last flight of the day, either because the crew have gone out of working hours or because its arrival airport will be closed by the time it comes to landing.”
The insider, described as a senior aviation source, told the newspaper: “The airport is putting restrictions on movements per hour, below its declared capacity, because of a shortage of air traffic controllers in the approach control function.”
A spokesman for Gatwick Airport said: “Sickness among air traffic control staff in the airport’s control tower has been an issue on just a couple of evenings recently but these have not been the cause of any delays outside of these isolated incidents.”
In other bad news for UK travel, pilots for easyJet have warned customers will turn their backs on the airline following "unprecedented chaos".
A letter from the easyJet branch of the French SNPL pilots’ union said that the airline has cancelled viable flights.
The letter reportedly said that easyJet is suffering “operational meltdowns” after bosses failed to heed staff warnings about surging demand. The letter, seen by the i paper, comes after chaotic scenes at airports over half-term, with delays and cancellations hitting family holidays.
In the letter, the pilots also warn the chaos has not reached its peak - calling it a “frightening prospect”.
The pilots raised the issue of stress caused by the pandemic and subsequent disruption on air crews, calling for extra support and saying “mental health is at stake”.
Meanwhile Heathrow has announced that passenger numbers were at 79% of pre-coronavirus levels last month.
Some 5.3 million people travelled through the west London airport in May.
Although that was around a fifth below the total for the same month in 2019, it represents nearly an eight-fold increase on May last year when the UK’s Covid-19 travel restrictions were in place.
Terminal 4, which was closed due to the virus crisis, reopens on Tuesday ahead of the summer peak. It will initially be used by 30 airlines.
Heathrow is one of several UK airports which have seen long queues in recent weeks as the aviation sector struggles to cope with the spike in demand for travel amid a staffing shortage.
Chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: “I’m immensely proud of the way my team has worked with airlines and other partners to ensure passengers got away during the Jubilee half-term.
“We continue to make good progress with our plans to ramp up capacity and are working closely with airlines and Government to keep supply and demand in balance as we grow, so that passengers can travel through Heathrow this summer with confidence.”
