FLIGHTMARE
Gatwick Airport chaos as dozens of flights delayed due to ‘staff absences’ with travellers forced to sleep on the floor
GATWICK Airport was in chaos last night as dozens of flights were delayed due to "staff absences" - with travellers forced to sleep on the floor.
Nine flights were cancelled and thousands of passengers stranded after staff absences at National Air Traffic Services (NATS) forced restrictions on UK airspace.
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This in turn grounded flights.
Travellers said easyJet was the worst affected, with one saying "over thirty" of the budget airline's flights had been delayed.
Tearful passengers revealed airport staff kept them in the dark amid scenes described as "utter bedlam" inside packed out terminals.
One traveller fumed: "Lots of fury, anger, indignation and tears."
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Another delayed passenger told The Sun: "My 5.15pm to Marseille is finally boarding… but suspect we won't get off the ground before 8pm."
Long queues for food and drink have also been growing as travellers said there was nowhere to sit.
A NATS spokesperson said they were working to limit disruption to passengers.
All travellers were later asked to "go to Gate 560" by a woman with a megaphone.
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Problems continued into the night as pictures showed queues snaking through Gatwick's south terminal as thousands touched down in the UK.
Late arrivals demanded Border Force roll out more staff to chop through the crowds swarming into the terminal.
Meanwhile Ryanair customers complained of being abandoned in the cold for an hour as they waited for a coach to bus them 71 miles from Gatwick to Stansted Airport.
The carnage is the second air traffic control incident in just over two weeks.
Last month, tens of thousands of passengers were stranded when a technical failure at NATS grounded flights.
Dodgy flight data - possibly from a French airline - caused two back-up systems to suspend automatic processing, NATS CEO Martin Rolfe said.
Instead of the error being rejected, it prompted a shutdown of the entire system to stop incorrect safety-related information being passed to an air traffic controller.
A Gatwick Airport spokesperson told The Sun last night: "Due to a short notice staff absence in the Air Traffic Control tower, temporary air traffic control restrictions have been put in place this afternoon.
"This will cause some delays.
“London Gatwick would like to apologise to any passengers who have been impacted by these restrictions.
"Please contact your airline for more information.
“NATS are a world-class provider of air traffic services and London Gatwick’s senior management recognises how hard the airport’s air traffic controllers are working to keep the operation moving.
"We are working closely with NATS to build resilience in the airport’s control tower to ensure disruption is kept to a minimum.”
A NATS spokesperson told The Sun: "Air traffic control restrictions have been put in place this afternoon due to a short notice staff absence affecting our air traffic control team at Gatwick Airport.
"We are working closely with the airport to ensure we can handle flights with as little disruption as possible and we apologise very sincerely to people who have been inconvenienced.
"We are working closely with Gatwick Airport Ltd to build resilience in the airport’s control tower to ensure disruption is kept to a minimum.
"New air traffic controllers have been recruited since last summer, increasing our presence by 17%, and others are due to start after completing their training, in line with the agreed plan when NATS took over the contract last October.
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"London Gatwick’s senior management understands that we are working hard to keep the operation moving.
"Airlines operating at London Gatwick were aware of the situation when NATS was appointed but that does not dilute the apology we offer sincerely to them and their passengers who have been inconvenienced by recent disruption."
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