Gatwick Airport has apologised to passengers affected by flight delays and cancellations due to air traffic control shortages.

Analysis of data from flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed 49 departures and 51 arrivals were cancelled on Sunday, affecting more than 16,000 passengers.

An airport spokesperson said the issues were not expected to continue through Monday, though there had been five cancellations by airlines earlier in the day.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary issued a fresh call for the resignation of the head of air traffic control (ATC) provider Nats, which also apologised for the disruption.

Gatwick said so far in 2024 it had safely handled more than 170,000 flights through Nats, a 4% increase on last year.

An airport spokesperson said the service had been fully available more than 99.6% of the time, operating 24 hours a day.

Gatwick typically had 800 or more flight “movements” a day from a single runway.

The spokesperson added: “We will continue to work closely with the Nats leadership team to provide passengers and airlines with a good service.

“London Gatwick would like to apologise to any passengers who experienced disruption yesterday.”

Mr O’Leary has repeatedly criticised Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe, particularly over the widespread disruption at UK airports during last year’s August Bank Holiday Monday, caused by a Nats technical failure.

“Airlines and passengers deserve better,” Mr O’Leary said. “If he won’t go, then new transport minister, Louise Haigh, should sack him.”

A Nats spokesperson said: “We are very sorry for yesterday’s disruption which was also disappointing for our highly professional Gatwick team, who are doing all they can to provide a seamless 24/7 service.”

They said when the organisation was appointed by Gatwick to improve ATC performance “everyone knew we had inherited a staff shortage that would take time to fix”.

Staff at Gatwick need to be specially trained for Gatwick, the spokesperson added, taking up to two years.

They said: “Any cancellation is one too many.

“On the rare occasions when we have had to reduce the flow of traffic at Gatwick, we have done everything possible to minimise disruption.”