Scenes of chaos were reported at London's second biggest airport this morning, as informations screens went down at Gatwick.
The electronic screens, which tell passengers which gate their flight will depart from, went down about 8am, apparently due to damage to a Vodafone fibre-optic cable.
Due to damage to a Vodafone fibre optic cable, we are continuing to display our flight info manually. Contingencies are working - we have whiteboards and friendly staff on hand to help, and tens of thousands of passengers have departed on time. Apologies for any inconvenience.
— Gatwick Airport LGW (@Gatwick_Airport) August 20, 2018
Airport staff have resorted to writing information on a whiteboard, with many passengers on Twitter complaining that one whiteboard just isn't enough.
Come on Gatwick this little whiteboard isn’t doing the job!! @Gatwick_Airport pic.twitter.com/CwXp5HxIja
— Gina (@GinaMurrin) August 20, 2018
EasyJet has advised customers to use its own website and app for information about departures. Gatwick Airport has said that "tens of thousands of passengers have already departed on time" among the chaos, while the BBC reports that a "handful of people" have missed their flights.
Gatwick is the world's largest single-runway airport. No estimate yet for when it will be fixed — at time of writing, Gatwick Airport's latest statement said that it expected Vodafone to repair the situation "soon".
