London’s Gatwick Airport is reducing the number of daily flights during its busy summer period to avoid a repeat of the serious travel chaos earlier this month caused by staff shortages.
Travel disruptions have lasted for months in the UK, but the situation worsened in early June due to the rise in demand sparked by the half-term school holiday and the four-day Platinum Jubilee weekend, with more than 150 flights being cancelled across the UK on the eve of the Jubilee.
To avoid more disruptions, Gatwick said it is planning to limit its number of daily flights to 825 in July and 850 in August compared to a reported 900 daily flights during the same time period in previous years.
Gatwick Chief Executive Stewart Wingate said: “It is clear that during the Jubilee week a number of companies operating at the airport struggled in particular, because of staff shortages. By taking decisive action now, we aim to help the ground handlers—and also our airlines—to better match their…