Gatwick airport apologised after a power outage at the Bough Beech treatment works left the UK’s second‑busiest hub without running water on Sunday, forcing the closure of many toilets, hand‑washing stations and food outlets across both terminals. The airport, owned by Vinci and BlackRock’s GIP, distributed bottled water to passengers and staff while flights continued to operate.

The outage began around 7 am at SES Water’s facility in Kent, Surrey and South London. SES said the fault was fixed by mid‑afternoon but water still required treatment before normal supply could resume, leaving some customers with low pressure or temporary loss of service.

The disruption adds to a summer of travel chaos: thunderstorms in June delayed hundreds of flights at Gatwick and Heathrow, and the new EU entry/exit system (EES) has caused long queues. Ryanair’s operations chief Neal Mc Mahon warned the system is “still not ready for peak summer volumes.”

Regulator Ofwat rated SES Water as “lagging behind” in its 2024/25 report, noting deteriorating performance on supply interruptions. In March 2024, a fire at a National Grid substation forced Heathrow to close for 18 hours, displacing roughly 200,000 passengers worldwide.