Whilst in the summer season there are plenty of arrivals during the small hours there are no scheduled (noisier)departures between roughly 2330 and 0530; sometimes however, there are delays and permission is given for a departure outside the normal ‘quiet’ time. The aircraft which woke Mr Hamlin was an A320 operated by Smartlynx Latvia flying a charter ART9072 to Bodrum in Turkey.
It had, no doubt, been delayed many hours so it was not a question of profit for Gatwick operating at that time, but more a question of getting a planeload of passengers to their destination after what must have been an extremely frustrating delay in the middle of the night – and I trust Mr Hamlin would not begrudge them that.
PETER HILLMAN
Primrose Copse, Horsham