Travellers at Gatwick Airport will face major disruption later month and into August as ground staff at the UK’s second largest hub prepare to strike for eight days.
Close to 1,000 baggage and ground handlers, dispatch agents and check-in staff will walk off the job on Friday 28 July until Tuesday 1 August, then again from Friday 4 August until Tuesday 8 August.
The Unite union, which represents 950 staff at ASC, Menzies Aviation, GGS and DHL Services, called the strike on Friday (14 July) as part of an ongoing dispute over pay.
Given the scale of the industrial action, the union said disruption will be “inevitable”.
“Strike action will inevitably cause severe delays, disruption and cancellations across Gatwick’s operations,” said Unite regional officer Dominic Rothwell.
The stoppage could affect up to 441 daily departing flights at Gatwick, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
A total of 4,410 flights are scheduled to depart the airport during the strike period, with affected airlines including British Airways, Easyjet, Ryanair, TUI, Westjet and Wizz.
EasyJet has already cancelled 1,700 flights from Gatwick this summer due to air traffic control (ATC) issues including impending strikes.
The latest industrial action comes as yet another blow to the UK’s aviation industry and may spark fears among travellers of a repeat of the chaos experienced last summer across European airports, where staff shortages led to the introduction of passenger caps at major hubs such as London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Frankfurt and Amsterdam Schiphol.
The union warned further strikes by ground staff could be in store at Gatwick, with ballots currently underway among its members at three additional companies: DHL Gatwick Direct, Red Handling and Wilson James.