Gatwick delays on Sunday, 17 September 2023
Eurocontrol logged 2,114 minutes of air-traffic arrival delay at London Gatwick that day across 47 arrivals held 15 minutes or more out of 406 (12% of the day's arrivals), with 43% of the delay attributed to aerodrome capacity.
Eurocontrol record · EGKK · 2023-09-17
Delay codes are Eurocontrol's IATA-standard causes. 57% 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.
- The usual defences have little behind them on this day. The logged cause was aerodrome capacity, which is arguable at best. A refusal citing weather or air traffic control should be answered with this record.
- 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 | 3,337 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| Amsterdam Schiphol | 1,720 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| London Heathrow | 1,591 min | Weather |
| Nice Côte d’Azur | 1,537 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| Madrid Barajas | 1,516 min | Weather |
| Antalya | 1,310 min | Aerodrome capacity |
| Paris Orly | 1,189 min | ATC staffing |
| Dublin | 825 min | Weather |
| Edinburgh | 800 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 17 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. Eurocontrol's record for this day does not show the kind of cause airlines usually plead, so a refusal on those grounds would be weak. Run the free check on your flight number for the verified answer.
Was the Gatwick disruption on 17 September 2023 caused by weather?
Partly or wholly: 27% of the 2,114 logged minutes were coded as weather. The airport's own weather observations that day show thunderstorm, lowest visibility 4007 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.