Gatwick Airport said 26 easyJet flights were cancelled at the last minute today due to staff sickness in its air traffic control tower.
The cancellations came as the company announced its results for the first half of this year, where it said it was operating “business as usual” and revised up its passenger forecast for 2022.
Over the summer, holidaymakers have faced cancellations and delays due to staff shortages as travel demand surged after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.
A Gatwick spokesperson told Sky News: "At 07:00, restrictions were put on the number of flights that can arrive into Gatwick due to late notice staff absence in the airport's control tower.
"Some flights throughout the day may unfortunately be delayed or cancelled as a result.
"Gatwick would like to apologise for any inconvenience this will cause to our passengers."
To cope with the staff shortages, the airport introduced capacity limits in June. But in today’s results statement, it said it had recruited new staff to reduce delays.
“The unprecedented growth in traffic led to short-term operational issues in June, however our decisive early action to limit the airport’s capacity in the crucial school holiday period of July and August has ensured passengers have experienced reliable flight timetables over the summer months,” said CEO Stewart Wingate.
“We are now very much operating business as usual and do not see any reason to extend the capacity declaration.”
In its earnings release, the airport group predicted passenger numbers would rise to 32.8mln in 2022 from just 6.3mln last year as a result of increased demand in the first half of the year.
However, it noted the continued uncertain macro-economic climate and said the forecast may be impacted by inflationary pressures on costs and passenger demand for the winter season.
Gatwick Airport returned to profit in the first six months to end-June with EBITDA at £148.3mln compared with a loss of £50.2mln in the year-ago period, on revenue rising to £291.5mln from £42.3mln as air traffic recovered following the easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions.
The group said 13.1mln passengers passed through the airport in first six months, with passenger demand at 59.1% of pre-pandemic levels. This improved to 74.3% in the second quarter after all UK travel restrictions were lifted in March.