 Chaos has struck Gatwick Airport this evening as passengers face delayed, diverted and cancelled flights due to air traffic control staff shortages. Several flights due to land at the Sussex airport have been diverted to other airports as far away as Cardiff, while easyJet has axed at least a dozen departures and arrivals tonight. Pilots were being warned of 'heavy delays all evening' because of the problem, according to Europe's aviation agency, Eurocontrol. Thousands of passengers are thought to be affected. Among the diversions was a flight from the Faroe Islands which was forced to land at Cardiff Airport, while a flight from Frankfurt was diverted to Heathrow with the return leg to Germany cancelled, The Independent reports. Passengers flying from Madrid with Air Europa landed at Stansted, as did those on a Ryanair flight from Dublin. Tui Airways from Corfu and Crete in Greece also landed in Stansted, while a flight from Samos was diverted to Bournemouth. A number of flights due to leave Gatwick have been cancelled (Picture: Reuters) Gatwick's biggest airline, easyJet, sent four flights to Luton: from Crete and fellow Greek island, Mykonos as well as Faro and Belfast. Although the airlines are not responsible for the shortage of air control staff at Gatwick Airport, they must find alternative flights for stranded passengers, as well as hotels and meals where necessary. A number of passengers voiced their frustrations on X (formely Twitter). One, Dax Patel, wrote: 'Landed at Heathrow airport, supposed to go Gatwick, passengers sitting in flight from last 1 hour, they don't provide any information, no information at airports too, not even customer care, the worst service.' This evening's issues follow a previous 'short-notice staff sickness' at Gatwick on September 6, which caused dozens of flights to be cancelled. And on August 28, a bank holiday Monday, the Nats air){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Chaos has struck Gatwick Airport this evening as passengers face delayed, diverted and cancelled flights due to air traffic control staff shortages.
Several flights due to land at the Sussex airport have been diverted to other airports as far away as Cardiff, while easyJet has axed at least a dozen departures and arrivals tonight.
Pilots were being warned of ‘heavy delays all evening’ because of the problem, according to Europe’s aviation agency, Eurocontrol.
Thousands of passengers are thought to be affected.