With the Olympics coming to a close on Sunday, its going to be crunch time for area air traffic controllers as the mass exodus begins at the start of next week. After all, most arrivals for the Olympic Games were spread out over several days or even weeks but passenger flights will probably be full next week plus there will be all of those business jets taking the VIPs home.
According to an Air Traffic Manager article, more than 9,000 business and general aviation flight slots have been booked at airports throughout the south east of England. That is approaching the 10,000 mark predicted ahead of the Games and 3,000 more than during a typical non-Olympics summer.
Air Traffic Manager also quoted NATS’ General Manager for London Terminal Control as saying that they have ensured that sufficient staff will be available to handle the outflow and that after three years of planning for the games, everything has (so far) gone according to plan.
However, major air space restriction will continue into the middle of next week with minor ones continuing into September.