Thunderstorms across Europe and staff shortages have led to widespread flights delays at Gatwick at the start of the summer holiday peak travel period.
At least 70 flights were reported to have been cancelled, with almost half by EasyJet, the largest airline at Gatwick. Vueling, Wizz Air and Norwegian Air flights were also affected.
Some passengers reportedly faced waiting up to 24 hours as restrictions were imposed on inbound flights due to bad weather on the continent.
Staff shortages in air traffic control staff also led to flights being spaced out for safety reasons.
Gatwick apologised for the delays but said that thunderstorms on Monday had led to restrictions on airspace across Europe.
Parts of Europe, including Italy, were hit by flooding and strong winds on Monday and Tuesday.
The UK’s second busiest airport also pointed to an “unforeseen issue” in its air traffic control centre which led to a staff shortage.
The issue first emerged on Monday afternoon with the airport forced to cancel one in 10 flights, and dozens more facing delays.
Interrupted service extended throughout Tuesday, forcing travellers to stay in hotels overnight to wait for rescheduled flights.
Gatwick tweeted in response to a passenger complaint that disruption had been caused “by a combination of air traffic control restrictions due to poor weather across Europe and short notice staffing issues in Gatwick’s control tower”.
The airport later said that it was “operating as normal” on Tuesday evening and passengers should contact their airlines for updates on any delays.
Gatwick has more flights to Europe than any other UK airport and can be impacted disproportionately by disruption on the continent.
A Gatwick spokesperson said: “Heavy air traffic control restrictions were put in place for much of the day (24 July) due to poor weather across large parts of Europe. This issue was compounded by an unforeseen issue in London Gatwick’s control tower, which reduced the number of available air traffic controllers.
“Unfortunately, these factors combined and caused significant delays and some cancellations. We would like to apologise to any passengers who were inconvenienced by this disruption.”
National Air Traffic Services (Nats), which runs Gatwick’s air traffic management, said the staffing issue meant further restrictions were put on flights to ensure safety.
Which? Travel editor Rory Boland said: “Thousands of travellers will be frustrated at these flight cancellations at Gatwick which have the potential to leave people’s holiday plans, which they have worked hard and saved for, in ruins.
“While air traffic control restrictions and extreme weather are classified as extraordinary circumstances outside the airline’s control, some carriers don’t always tell the truth about disruption. If your flight is delayed or cancelled but other airlines appear to be operating as normal it is worth challenging the carrier and lodging a claim for compensation.”