Air traffic control glitch sparks aviation chaos, 1,300 flights cancelled across UK
According to flight tracking platform FlightRadar24, nearly 1,300 flights to and from UK airports were cancelled.
PTC News Desk: More than 1,000 flights were cancelled across the United Kingdom on Tuesday after a technical problem at the country’s air traffic control provider, NATS, caused major disruption at several airports.
According to flight tracking platform FlightRadar24, nearly 1,300 flights to and from UK airports were cancelled. Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Edinburgh were among the airports affected. Dublin Airport in neighbouring Ireland also reported dozens of cancellations.
NATS says system problem fixed
NATS said the disruption was caused by a fault in its flight data processing system. By early evening, the air traffic control provider said the issue had been resolved but warned that it would take time to clear the backlog.
NATS said recovery from the system failure was taking longer than expected. Heathrow Airport, the UK's busiest airport, said arrivals had been suspended for the rest of Tuesday, while departures resumed amid continued disruption.
Airlines were forced to cancel, delay or divert flights as aircraft and crew were left in different locations.
British Airways, Air India among airlines impacted
British Airways cancelled or diverted more than 100 flights, affecting tens of thousands of passengers. Ryanair said more than 65,000 passengers had been affected and that it had cancelled more than 50 flights.
FlightRadar24 reported that 177 flights had been cancelled in London on Wednesday so far.
Air India also warned that some of its services could be affected because aircraft and crew had been displaced following the incident. The airline advised passengers to check their flight status before travelling to the airport.
Other airlines also reported cancellations. easyJet cancelled 218 flights, while KLM cancelled 37, Eurowings 22 and Ryanair reported 41 cancellations.