(Bloomberg) -- London’s Gatwick airport said it will limit airline capacity over the peak summer travel period amid staffing shortages that caused chaos during the recent Jubilee holidays.

The UK’s second-largest airport said it will limit airlines to 825 flights a day in July and 850 a day in August to ensure “a more reliable and better standard of service.” A number of companies, including ground handlers, had a “severe” lack of staff and operating at normal capacity would cause more queues, delays and last minute cancellations, Gatwick said in a statement. 

Gatwick’s announcement comes just a day after Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport said it would implement similar curbs. As Covid restrictions were lifted, travel has rebounded at such a pace that it’s resulted in an unprecedented labor crunch, worsened by the effects of job cuts, from pilots to cabin crew and ground-handling staff, made at the height of the pandemic.

“By taking decisive action now, we aim to help the ground handlers -- and also our airlines -- to better match their flying programs with their available resources,” said Stewart Wingate, Gatwick’s chief executive officer, in the statement. “We are also working closely with our airlines to avoid disruption to passengers this summer, and while more newly recruited staff will start work in coming weeks, we know it will be a busy summer.”

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.