Hundreds Of Passengers Found Themselves At The Airport For The Holiday

Gatwick airport officials have started looking into what caused an electrical system problem which caused the power to go out in some portions of its North Terminal on Christmas Eve. Sixty-two departures and 59 arrivals were canceled December 24 following heavy rain, strong winds, and flooding in the area.

Buying Business Travel reports that it was the second such incident in recent months. Flooding at an electrical substation in October disrupted flights operating into and out of the south terminal.

Airport officials this week have begun what they describe as a "full review" of the disruption. It will be conducted by David McMilan, former director general of Eurocontrol and the current non-executive director at Gatwick. His report and recommendations will be published in February 2014.  According to a news release, extraordinarily adverse weather across the region, including exceptionally heavy rain caused all local waterways around Gatwick Airport to flood. The flood waters significantly exceeded flood impact projections and resulted in significant damage to electrical substations and switch rooms which caused the partial loss of power to the North Terminal. Since then all efforts have been focused on restoring the North Terminal to its full operation. A full schedule of flights operated on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and every day since.

Since change of ownership Gatwick says it has invested significantly in improving the airport spending £1 bilion (($1.64 billion U.S.) in the last four years. We have invested over $20 million (U.S.) on improving the flood defenses. Gatwick has made a £4 million ($6.5 million U.S.) investment in the Environment Agency’s Upper Mole Flood Alleviation Scheme and is currently building an additional on-site flood resilience scheme costing over $13 million (U.S.). The airport said a number of short term measures have been put in place since Christmas Eve to reduce the risk of such incidents happening again.

On Christmas Eve some flights were canceled and others were subject to significant delays causing considerable inconvenience for passengers. London Gatwick worked with our airport partners and called in extra staff throughout the day to help support passengers and to assist in managing an extremely difficult and evolving situation ensuring that 414 of the 535 scheduled flights departed and arrived safely. “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," said Stewart Wingate, London Gatwick Chief Executive.”

With this in mind London Gatwick will be offering £100 ($165) of high street vouchers to each passenger whose flight was cancelled on Christmas Eve as a gesture of goodwill in recognition of the exceptionally difficult circumstances, and extends "its sincere apologies to all passengers who were affected by the disruptions on Christmas Eve," according to the release.

FMI: www.gatwickairport.com