London Gatwick delays and cancellations on 31 August

London Gatwick is experiencing a patchy start to Monday, 31 August, with live data showing several early morning and midday departures running behind schedule, particularly on leisure routes operated by easyJet and Tui Airways, although the overall level of disruption remains limited.

Early hours: late arrivals set the tone

Overnight and early morning movements into London Gatwick on Monday point to a slightly unsettled operation, with a cluster of inbound flights arriving later than planned. A live arrivals board for the airport shows several leisure services from Greece, Turkey and Spain posting revised touchdown times in the first hour after midnight.

Short‑haul flights from Chania, Rhodes and Heraklion operated by easyJet, as well as a Lanzarote service flown by Tui Airways, are all listed with estimated arrival times pushed back by around 20 to 35 minutes compared with schedule. These late‑running aircraft are key because they often form the outbound services for the first wave of holiday departures later in the morning.

While modest in scale, this pattern of minor inbound delays can have a knock‑on effect on turnaround times and stand allocation, particularly in peak summer periods when London Gatwick runs a dense schedule of leisure traffic. Passengers booked on early morning departures are therefore being advised, in publicly available guidance, to check live status tools and allow additional time at the terminal.

easyJet departures: isolated delays but no widespread disruption

On the easyJet network from Gatwick, published flight‑status pages highlight a mixed picture for Monday, 31 August. Several flights in the early wave to Mediterranean destinations remain listed as on time, including services to Chania and Bodrum, which are still planned to leave London Gatwick’s North Terminal on their scheduled morning slots.

Elsewhere, some easyJet flights are already showing revised timings. A mid‑afternoon departure from Gatwick to Rhodes, operating as flight U28227, has had its gate departure pushed back by around 15 minutes compared with the original 14:40 schedule, according to real‑time tracking data. Live information suggests the service remains planned to operate later in the day.

Another route drawing attention is the late morning departure from Gatwick to Corfu, flight U28211. Real‑time data from consumer travel platforms indicates that the service has been retimed, with the departure moved to 11:15 and a new expected arrival in Corfu of 15:55 local time, reflecting a more significant adjustment than the minor schedule drift seen on some other routes.

Despite these changes, there is currently no evidence from publicly accessible trackers of large‑scale easyJet cancellations at Gatwick for Monday. Most listed flights remain in planned or scheduled status, pointing to a day of scattered delays rather than systematic disruption for the carrier at the airport.

Tui schedule: busy holiday programme with adjustments

Tui Airways is also operating a full summer holiday programme from London Gatwick on 31 August, with multiple departures to Turkey, Greece and Spain. Airline timetable tools and independent flight‑information sites show a series of planned departures through the early hours and into the afternoon, including overnight and early‑morning rotations feeding Mediterranean resorts.

One of the higher‑profile flights on Monday’s schedule is TOM458 from London Gatwick to Antalya. The service, operated by a Boeing 787‑8, is listed as planned to depart at 16:50 and arrive in Antalya at 22:55 local time. At the time of writing, the flight status remains “planned,” with no published indication of delay, but real‑time monitoring notes that timings are subject to change as aircraft and weather conditions evolve.

Earlier in the overnight period, Tui’s long‑running holiday operations included Gatwick departures to Greek islands such as Corfu, feeding into a steady stream of returns shown on the arrivals board in the early hours of Monday. Several of these inbound services, including flights from Lanzarote and other Mediterranean resorts, show small estimated delays on approach, underlining how tightly the carrier’s schedule is wound around peak holiday travel demand.

For passengers travelling with Tui from Gatwick, the airline’s own arrivals and departures pages, alongside independent trackers, remain the main reference points for up‑to‑the‑minute information on whether specific flights are running to time, delayed or subject to last‑minute changes.

What live boards show about overall Gatwick performance

Aggregated data from live arrivals and departures boards suggests that London Gatwick is currently managing a busy but largely resilient operation on Monday, 31 August. The arrivals board for the early hours lists a continuous sequence of flights, with many on time but a notable minority arriving up to around half an hour later than scheduled.

These small timing shifts are most visible on high‑density leisure routes to and from southern Europe, which are operated heavily by carriers such as easyJet, Tui Airways and Wizz Air UK. The pattern points more to routine summer congestion, air traffic control spacing and weather‑related adjustments along busy corridors than to any single, severe disruption event focused on Gatwick itself.

Historical performance reports published by the airport show that peak summer months typically bring more pressure on punctuality, particularly in the late evening and early morning night‑period windows when aircraft are turning around quickly to maximise aircraft utilisation. The conditional factors seen on Monday appear to align with these wider trends rather than representing an extraordinary operational breakdown.

Airline‑specific tools from easyJet, Tui and third‑party tracking providers also emphasise that status can change rapidly throughout the day, reinforcing the message that passengers should continue to monitor their individual flights rather than relying solely on the morning snapshot.

Advice for passengers flying today

With delays at London Gatwick on Monday currently concentrated on a limited number of routes rather than across the entire schedule, the main message from publicly available information is one of vigilance rather than alarm. Travellers booked with easyJet, Tui or other carriers should continue to check their flight status regularly on the day of departure.

Most experts recommend arriving at the terminal in line with airline guidance, which for short‑haul leisure flights typically means at least two hours before scheduled departure, and earlier during peak holiday periods. This helps mitigate the impact of any last‑minute gate or timing changes that may follow from minor knock‑on delays in the wider network.

Passengers whose flights do encounter significant delays or cancellations can consult airline websites and official civil aviation guidance for information on rebooking options, care and assistance at the airport, and potential eligibility for compensation under UK regulations in certain circumstances. Keeping boarding passes, booking confirmations and any written communications from the airline is usually advised when making a claim.

As Monday progresses, the balance of on‑time operations versus delayed services at Gatwick will depend on how quickly carriers can absorb early disruptions and how air traffic flows across Europe develop. For now, the data points to a busy holiday hub experiencing the familiar pressures of late‑August travel, rather than a severe outage affecting all passengers.

Sources: Avionio London Gatwick live arrivals; Aviability easyJet U28227 London Gatwick to Rhodes status; Trip.com real-time status for easyJet U28211 London Gatwick to Corfu; Aviability Tui Airways TOM458 London Gatwick to Antalya schedule; Tui Airways arrivals and departures tool