Gatwick airport issued an apology to its passengers who were affected by flight delays and cancellations due to air traffic control shortages.

On Sunday, 49 departures and 51 arrivals were cancelled which caused an impact to over 16,000 passengers.

So far this year the airport has handled more than 170,000 flights and is reported to have been fully serviceable more than 99.6% of the time.

A spokesperson for London Gatwick said they would like to apologise to any passengers who experienced the disruption on Sunday.