Gatwick is to conduct an investigation into the problems which forced the airport to cancel more than 20 per cent of its flights on Christmas Eve.
The Sussex airport cancelled 62 departures and 59 arrivals on December 24 due to heavy rain and strong winds which caused flooding the area and resulted in the loss of power in some part of its North Terminal.
It was the second such incident in the last few months - the airport’s South Terminal suffered a loss of power due to the flooding of a sub-station in October.
Gatwick said it had ordered a full review into the disruption, which will be carried out by David McMillan, who was formerly director general of air traffic controller Eurocontrol and is currently a non-executive director of Gatwick. The report and its recommendations will be published in February 2014.
Stewart Wingate, Gatwick's chief executive, said: “We appreciate that lots of our passengers were travelling to be with their families over the festive period and we are sorry that flights were cancelled and passengers left disappointed, particularly at this time of the year.”
Gatwick said that it had invested more than £12 million on improving its flood defences including the current building of a £8 million new on-site “flood resilience scheme”. The airport added that it also had made a “number of short-term measures” in the last week.
Meanwhile, passengers needing to travel between London and Gatwick by rail over the New Year period are being forced to use bus replacement services or find alternative modes of transport because of major engineering works on the rail track.
The airport is also offering £100 of high street shopping vouchers as compensation to every passenger whose flight was cancelled on Christmas Eve in a "gesture of goodwill".
Passengers whose flights were cancelled due to these "operational issues" should email [email protected] with evidence of their booking on a flight due to depart from or arrive at Gatwick on December 24 together with their postal address.
gatwickairport.com