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London's Gatwick airport Friday said it would reduce summer flights, blaming staff shortages that have sparked travel chaos as demand rebounds following the lifting of pandemic lockdowns.
The hub, majority-owned by France's Vinci Airports, will run a maximum 825 daily flights in July and 850 per day in August, down from pre-pandemic daily totals of about 900 for the summer months.
"Gatwick is temporarily moderating its rate of growth for July and August" to offer passengers "a more reliable and better standard of service", it said in a statement.
Gatwick said the reduction was owing to limited resources.
The sector, which culled jobs with planes grounded during the pandemic, is struggling to recruit enough staff now that the skies have reopened.
A number of UK flights were cancelled during the recent holiday-shortened week marking Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee.
"The airport... found that a number of companies based at Gatwick are, and will continue to, operate with a severe lack of staff resources over the summer holiday period," Gatwick warned Friday.
"If not addressed, this issue would see airport passengers continuing to experience an unreliable and potentially poor standard of service, including more queues, delays and last-minute cancellations."
