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Passengers travelling through London Gatwick on Monday 31 August are facing a mix of minor disruption and longer waits, as live data shows a number of delayed flights and a small number of cancellations affecting services operated by carriers including easyJet and Tui.
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Overall picture at Gatwick on a busy late‑summer Monday
Publicly available departure board data indicates that London Gatwick is handling more than 400 scheduled outbound flights on Monday 31 August, reflecting a busy late‑summer travel day with services across Europe and to longer‑haul leisure destinations.
Across this schedule, most flights are operating close to plan, but a growing cluster of services is showing delay codes or revised departure times, particularly on short‑haul leisure routes. Live tracking sites list a small number of cancellations alongside a higher volume of services marked as delayed, often by 30 minutes or more.
The pattern suggests operational strain rather than a single major incident affecting the airport. Disruption is distributed through the day, with some early‑morning flights leaving behind schedule and further knock‑on delays appearing in mid‑morning and early afternoon departures.
For travellers, the impact is uneven: many services are still departing within 15 to 30 minutes of schedule, while others are seeing holds approaching or exceeding an hour, which can have consequences for onward connections and hotel check‑ins at destination.
easyJet departures show a run of delayed short‑haul flights
Among the carriers most visible on Gatwick’s North Terminal boards, easyJet is operating a full late‑summer programme with multiple continental departures from the early hours. Real‑time tracking for individual flights shows several of these services running late, although most remain scheduled to operate rather than cancel.
On the London to Las Palmas route, for example, live tracker data for flight U28129 on 31 August shows an expected departure more than an hour behind the original schedule, indicating a significant delay for holidaymakers heading to Gran Canaria. Other easyJet services listed from Gatwick to Mediterranean destinations such as Alicante and Bordeaux are recorded as operating, but with adjusted or closely monitored departure times.
Earlier in the day, some easyJet flights left ahead of or close to their planned slots, but incremental delays to individual rotations appear to be feeding through the schedule as the morning progresses. Average delay statistics published for selected routes to major European cities indicate that Monday services can be prone to hold‑ups of more than an hour, underlining the importance for passengers of monitoring gate information and airline apps throughout the day.
At this stage there is no single cause identified in public reporting for the easyJet delays at Gatwick on 31 August. Typical contributory factors on similar days include late‑arriving inbound aircraft, air traffic flow restrictions over parts of Europe and high terminal demand during peak holiday periods.
Tui programme largely operating, but with punctuality pressure
Tui also maintains a substantial leisure schedule from Gatwick, particularly to Mediterranean islands and Turkish coastal airports. The company’s flight‑status portal for 31 August shows its Gatwick departures operating, but with some services marked as subject to schedule checks and potential minor shifts in timing.
Historical punctuality data compiled for Gatwick’s night and early‑morning periods points to Tui and easyJet as prominent operators in the airport’s leisure timetable, and recent customer experiences shared in public forums frequently reference late departures on certain routes to Greek islands and other seasonal destinations. While these accounts refer to previous weeks rather than specifically to 31 August, they illustrate the type of rolling delay patterns that can surface when aircraft and crew are working close to capacity.
For Monday’s operations, there is no broad indication of mass cancellations across the Tui network at Gatwick. Instead, the picture is one of a full programme running under punctuality pressure, where individual flights may leave later than planned but still complete the journey the same day.
Travellers booked with Tui out of Gatwick on 31 August are therefore advised, based on publicly available patterns, to plan for possible waiting time at departures, particularly on busy holiday routes, even if their flight remains scheduled to depart.
Surface transport: amended Gatwick Express timetable on 31 August
Disruption around Gatwick on Monday 31 August is not limited to air travel. The Gatwick Express rail operator has issued an advisory that an amended timetable is in place for services between London Victoria, Gatwick Airport and Brighton for the entirety of the Bank Holiday Monday.
The operator’s service‑updates page states that trains are running on a modified pattern all day on 31 August, with some services operating with reduced carriage formations compared with standard weekday schedules. One listed example highlights a London Victoria to Brighton service formed of four coaches instead of the usual eight, reflecting constrained capacity during peak times.
While the amended timetable does not amount to a full suspension of services, it can result in busier trains and longer door‑to‑door journey times for air passengers heading to or from Gatwick. Those connecting to early‑morning departures or late‑evening arrivals may need to leave additional time for the rail leg of their trip.
Alternative Southern and Thameslink services through Gatwick continue to operate, but travellers using these routes are also encouraged to check live departure boards and journey planners, as bank holiday working can affect stopping patterns and frequencies.
What passengers at Gatwick should do today
With scattered delays and occasional cancellations affecting parts of the schedule, passengers flying from London Gatwick on Monday 31 August are encouraged to keep a close eye on real‑time information from their airline and from the airport departure boards. This applies in particular to easyJet and Tui customers on busy leisure routes, where some flights are showing notable departure slippages even as they remain scheduled to operate.
Because the pattern of disruption appears dynamic and can change through the day, travellers are advised to confirm their flight status before leaving for the airport, double‑check terminal and gate assignments on arrival, and be prepared for possible queues at check‑in, bag drop and security during peak waves.
Those connecting via rail should factor in the amended Gatwick Express timetable and potential crowding on alternative services, allowing extra contingency time between train arrival and flight departure. For passengers whose services do suffer long delays or cancellations, publicly available guidance on air passenger rights sets out when compensation or rerouting options may be available, depending on the cause of the disruption and the length of the delay.
With a high volume of departures and a mix of on‑time and delayed flights, Monday 31 August at Gatwick is shaping up as a day where careful planning, early information checks and patience at the terminal can significantly improve the travel experience.
London Gatwick live departures overview