Gatwick to cut 4,000 f lights this summer
GATWICK airport was accused of ‘panicking’ holidaymakers yesterday after it announced around 4,000 flights will be cancelled this summer.
The airport said schedules will be cut due to staff shortages so that passengers ‘experience a more reliable and better standard of service’.
Consumer watchdog Which? said the decision was ‘sensible’ but criticised the airport for making the announcement before first agreeing with airlines which flights would be cancelled.
Gatwick is planning to limit its number of daily flights to 825 in July and 850 in August compared with a reported 900 a day during the same time period in previous years.
Holidays to Spain, Portugal and the South of France are likely to be most affected by the cancellations, according to travel experts. Paul Charles, of the travel consultancy PC Agency, said: ‘It’s inevitable flights to Spain will be the worst hit.’
Gatwick boss Stewart Wingate said: ‘ By taking decisive action now, we aim to help ground handlers – and our airlines – to better match their flying programmes with their available resources.
‘The vast majority of flights will operate as normal and the steps taken today mean passengers can expect a more reliable service.’
EasyJet said it was ‘reviewing’ details of the announcement and expected ‘to be able to reaccommodate the majority of customers should their flight be affected’. BA and Wizz Air have reportedly also agreed to the restrictions.
Ryanair said it ‘did not have any plans to cancel flights from Gatwick’ and that the airport ‘should be looking to the airlines who are already making mass cancellations across the UK for these cuts’.
Rory Boland, travel editor at Which?, said: ‘This is the sensible thing to do if all the flights can’t be run – the more advance notice passengers get, the better.
‘But Gatwick has panicked customers because people flying over the summer are now all worried whether their flights will be cancelled or not. It would have been far more sensible to talk to the airlines first and make sure the affected passengers know as well.’