Passengers at Gatwick Airport spent Sunday without access to running water after a power outage knocked out service to both terminals, closing toilets and forcing most restaurants to shut. The airport in West Sussex posted a statement on X apologizing for the disruption and saying that a problem in the Horley area was under investigation.
SES Water, the company that supplies the airport along with parts of Kent, Surrey, and south London, said the outage originated at its Bough Beech water treatment works. Just before 1:45 p.m. BST, the company issued an update saying the works had been restored. "Our Bough Beech water treatment works are back up and running," SES Water said in the statement. "We now need to treat the water before returning services to normal as quickly as we possibly can."
Gatwick said the disruption was continuing into Sunday afternoon. The airport confirmed in a statement that there was "currently no water supply in either terminal" and that some restaurant partners had opened spaces to provide additional seating. Bottled water was made available to passengers and staff, and the airport said contingency measures were in place.
Not everyone inside the terminals was aware of those measures. Passenger Paul Lee told the BBC he had not seen bottled water being distributed and had not heard any announcements about the situation. "For people who need to go to the toilet, this isn't good, and still no announcement or official information - and the water they mentioned isn't being distributed," Lee said. He was leaving soon and said the situation would be worse for passengers waiting several more hours.
Former MP and ex-CEO of UK Music Michael Dugher called out the airport on social media over the lack of seating. He urged the airport to "at least allow people to use the chairs in all the closed restaurants and bars." He added that "No water is one thing but depriving people of somewhere to sit is another... families are having to sit on the floor."
The disruption also affected flights. BBC reporter Adam Dowling, flying from Valencia to Gatwick, said his flight had been delayed and that passengers were told landing slots were being rearranged to reduce the number of flights arriving at the airport. The BBC contacted Gatwick to confirm the extent of flight disruption, but the airport had not confirmed specifics. Roger Wood, from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, said he initially did not believe friends who told him all the restaurants and bars in the south terminal were closed.
SES Water said complications from the power outage caused some customers to experience low water pressure or a temporary loss of supply. The company's service area extends beyond the airport to residential customers across multiple counties.
