Chaos at Gatwick as IT fault leaves staff using pens and whiteboards
GATWICK Airport descended into chaos yesterday as staff resorted to writing flight times and gate numbers on whiteboards after an IT failure.
Passengers at Britain’s second busiest terminal had to rely on information handwritten by airport staff using marker pens and listening to instructions over smart phones for each departure as a damaged fibreoptic cable caused all digital departure boards in the south and north terminals to fail.
Some people missed their flights as airport workers set up makeshift display boards in an attempt to keep flight details updated.
Taking instructions through handheld radios, Gatwick announcers had to to use loud hailers to alert passengers of any changes. The outage also affected the airport’s website and lasted almost eight hours.
While some passengers were sympathetic, others criticised the handling of the crisis. Robin Blandford said a “poor chap” with a two-way radio was trying to keep hundreds of people up to date. Elizabeth Humphries, a Canadian tourist, denounced Gatwick as “appalling” and insisted this was “typical Britain”.
Rob Fahey, from Tokyo, said the “utter chaos” at the south terminal was evidence of Britain’s “crumbling infrastructure”.
In a tweet showing people crowding around a whiteboard, he said: “This tiny whiteboard is the only departures information in Gatwick Airport right now; every screen is offline. Utter chaos.
“This is a signature flourish at the end of a short trip that’s been full of reminders of how badly the UK’S infrastructure is crumbling.”
Those waiting to depart jostled for position to get close enough to read the temporary boards in the departure lounge, before the airport’s technicians managed by early afternoon to get a computer document projected on to some of the terminal’s screens.
Not everyone caught up in the furore criticised the airport, however. Kirsty Malpass, the actress, who appeared in Jerry Springer: The Opera, tweeted her love of Gatwick’s “old school” and “analogue” approach.
She said: “All the information screens down. Could be chaos. But thanks to an old-school whiteboard and a lot of people scurrying around with markers and erasers it is surprisingly calm and ordered.”
Engineers from Vodafone fixed the cable at 4pm, but there was a further delay as technicians had to reboot the airport’s systems.
Normal service was eventually restored at 5pm. A spokesman told The Daily Telegraph: “The airport’s manual contingency plan – which included displaying information manually in the terminals and having extra staff on hand to help direct passengers – worked well, and tens of thousands of passengers departed on time and no flights were cancelled. Gatwick would like to apologise to any passengers who were inconvenienced by this issue.”
Earlier in the day, he said that a “handful of people had missed their flights” as a result of the problem, which was understood to have started around 8.20 yesterday morning.
It resulted in some passengers heading to one gate only to be told there had been a change of location.
With minimal whiteboards available, tourists were unable to rely on the plethora of digital displays usually dotted around the terminal.
August is one of the busiest periods of the year for the West Sussex airport as families embark on – and return from – summer holidays.
A Vodafone spokeswoman told The Telegraph yesterday morning: “We have identified a damaged fibre cable which is used by Gatwick Airport to display flight information.
“Our engineers are working hard to fix the cable as quickly as possible.
“This is a top priority for us and we are very sorry for any problems caused by this issue. We are keeping Gatwick Airport constantly informed of progress.”
It is understood that the cable responsible was located underground.