Gatwick airport chaos as blank departure screens cause flight delays

'Carnage' as information boards stop working

Britain’s second-busiest airport is in disarray after departure screens went blank on one of the busiest days of the summer.

Gatwick Airport is telling passengers: “Due to an ongoing issue with Vodafone – an IT provider for the airport – our flight information screens are not displaying correctly.”

Passengers rely upon the screens to find the right gate in a very complex airport.

Airport staff are using “temporary flight boards” – whiteboards with handwritten information – while staff are making announcements about gates.

The issue has also affected online information; the official departure pages are showing Sunday night’s flights as still boarding.

“We expect Vodafone to resolve the issue soon and would like to apologise to passengers for any inconvenience,” the airport said.

One passenger, Helen Walsh, tweeted: “Absolute carnage at Gatwick Airport with no boards working and no staff with gate info.”

The airport responded: “Our staff are working very hard to get info back onto the screens as soon as possible and gate info is being provided by staff when this becomes available.”

“Screens not working,” tweeted Surinder Manku. “Hope everyone manages to get to the gates on time. Poor staff shouting out the destinations!”

Later she wrote: “Total chaos and now having to go from gate 1 to gate 18! with a dodgy knee! Feel sorry for families travelling with young children.”

According to FlightRadar24 information, many flights are departing with delays; Ryanair to Dublin, and easyJet to Krakow and Split left over an hour late.

Gatwick is the busiest single-runway airport in the world.