Chaos erupted at all of Britain’s major airports this afternoon with flights out of London grounded because of a ‘technical issue’.
Travelers found themselves stuck on the tarmac or redirected to other European airports following a failure in air traffic control systems that began earlier on Wednesday afternoon.
London Heathrow, Birmingham, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Stansted, Manchester, Gatwick, and Luton are among those affected.
Technical issues closed off London’s airspace, leaving many flights circling or displaced.
Heathrow Airport has since confirmed the issue has been resolved, but knock-on delays are likely to cause further disruption.
One person on X reported a Heathrow bound flight was flying around Ben Nevis while unable to land safely.
Meanwhile, passenger Jane Ainsworth told the Daily Mail her flight from Kos back to Birmingham has been forced to land in Brussels.
Another frustrated flyer reported ‘going nowhere’ as they sat inside an airplane on the runway for more than 40 minutes.
One passenger remarked, ‘We’re stationary with no flights departing from @HeathrowAirport for the past 40 minutes. It seems the radar is down. The @British_Airways team is doing a great job in response.’
A frustrated passenger reported ‘going nowhere’ as they sat inside an airplane on the runway for more than 40 minutes
One person on X reported a Heathrow bound flight is currently circling Ben Nevis while unable to land safely
Passengers have been advised to check with their airline before travelling, as further delays are inevitable.
A representative from Heathrow commented, ‘Flights at Heathrow have recommenced after a technical issue at the NATS Swanwick air traffic control center. We advise passengers to confirm with their airline prior to travel. We apologize for any resulting inconvenience.’
NTAS, the UK’s leading air traffic control organization, issued a statement earlier today: ‘Due to a technical issue at our NATS Swanwick air traffic control center, we are limiting the number of aircraft operating in the London control area to maintain safety, our prime concern.
‘We are sorry for any delays this might cause. Our engineers are diligently working to resolve the issue as swiftly as possible, collaborating closely with airlines to reduce disruption. Currently, we are unable to estimate how long it will take before operations return to normal.’
‘Please check with your airline on the status of your flight.’
Gatwick Airport said the technical issue meant there are currently no departures while the situation is being resolved.
‘A technical issue impacting Nats is affecting all outbound flights across the UK,’ the airport said on X.
‘There are currently no departures from London Gatwick while the situation is being resolved.
‘We are working with Nats to resume flights as quickly as possible. Inbound flights are still landing at the airport.
‘Passengers should check the status of their flights with their airline.’
Previously, more than 700,000 travelers experienced disruption when flights were halted at UK airports on August 28, 2023, due to a Nats technical problem while processing a flight plan.
Furious passengers have reported being scared to miss events they were meant to be travelling to
Many flights have been diverted due to the widespread issue
With the system down, flights could not take off or land at any airport, causing hellish delays that lasted for days and cost airlines £100 million in compensation.
A Civil Aviation Authority inquiry into the incident found that IT support engineers were allowed to work from home on one of the busiest days of the year.
The engineer assigned to fix the problem struggled to login remotely because the system had crashed, so it would not accept his password.
It took an hour and a half for them to get into their office, where they performed a ‘full system re-start’ – which did not resolve the problem.
While thousands of holidaymakers were stuck at airports or on the tarmac, advice was sought from an off-site senior engineer, who also did not understand why the system had failed so dramatically.
