Gatwick delays on Monday, 4 September 2023
Eurocontrol logged 6,802 minutes of air-traffic arrival delay at London Gatwick that day across 171 arrivals held 15 minutes or more out of 432 (40% of the day's arrivals), with 77% of the delay attributed to weather. That makes it the 43rd worst day at Gatwick since January 2019.
Eurocontrol record · EGKK · 2023-09-04
Delay codes are Eurocontrol's IATA-standard causes. 77% of this day's delay sits in categories airlines usually plead as extraordinary circumstances.
Were you on a flight that day?
What this means if your flight was late
Under UK261 and EU261 you are owed £220, £350 or £520 (or €250, €400, €600) per passenger for arriving three hours or more late, unless the airline proves extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even with all reasonable measures. Airport-wide records like this one are the airline's favourite evidence, and they cut both ways.
- Expect the airline to cite weather. That is a real argument on this day, but it only covers delay actually caused by it. The airline must show the link to your flight and that it had reserve time and spare aircraft in place (Eglītis v Air Baltic). A flight that left late because the inbound aircraft was stuck on a technical fault is compensable whatever the weather did.
- Cancelled that day? Compensation depends on notice: under 14 days and no close re-routing means it is due, subject to the same extraordinary-circumstances test. You are always owed a refund or re-routing and care while you wait.
- Delayed under three hours? No fixed compensation, but food, drink and communications were owed after two hours on a short flight, and reasonable expenses are recoverable.
The free check pulls your flight's own record (actual arrival time against schedule) and pairs it with this day's data, so the verdict and the letter are specific to your flight, not to the airport.
Other airports the same day
| Lisbon | 4,672 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| Zürich | 3,984 min | Weather |
| London Heathrow | 2,907 min | Weather |
| Amsterdam Schiphol | 2,176 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International | 1,204 min | ATC capacity |
| London City | 1,190 min | Weather |
| Madrid Barajas | 1,177 min | Weather |
| Corfu | 946 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| Nice Côte d’Azur | 599 min | ATC staffing |
Other bad days at Gatwick
| 8 September 2022 | 25,244 min | ATC staffing |
| 28 December 2024 | 25,142 min | Weather |
| 27 December 2024 | 22,454 min | Weather |
| 31 August 2022 | 22,160 min | ATC staffing |
| 18 October 2024 | 20,066 min | Weather |
| 22 September 2023 | 16,908 min | ATC staffing |
| 29 December 2024 | 16,739 min | Weather |
| 24 September 2023 | 15,059 min | ATC staffing |
Questions
My flight from Gatwick on 4 September 2023 was delayed. Can I claim compensation?
If you arrived at your final destination 3 hours or more late, the starting position is £220 to £520 per passenger depending on distance. The airline can refuse only by proving extraordinary circumstances that affected your specific flight. On this day Eurocontrol attributed 77% of Gatwick's air-traffic delay to weather, so expect that argument; it still has to be linked to your flight. Run the free check on your flight number for the verified answer.
Was the Gatwick disruption on 4 September 2023 caused by weather?
Partly or wholly: 77% of the 6,802 logged minutes were coded as weather. The airport's own weather observations that day show fog, lowest visibility 644 m and strongest gust none reported kt.
Does a bad day at Gatwick mean every delayed flight is exempt from compensation?
No. Air-traffic delay attributed to an airport explains some of the day's lateness, not all of it, and it is the airline that must prove your flight's delay was caused by it and could not have been avoided with reasonable measures such as schedule buffers and spare aircraft. Flights delayed by a technical fault, crew shortage or a late inbound aircraft from an unaffected airport are compensable regardless of what happened at Gatwick.
Sources: Eurocontrol Performance Review Unit, airport arrival ATFM delay by cause (daily); METAR observations via the Iowa Environmental Mesonet archive. This page describes the airport's day; your flight's own record decides your claim. All Gatwick delay days.