UK air traffic glitch cancels over 1,000 flights
What's the story
A technical glitch in the United Kingdom's air traffic control system has led to massive travel disruption, canceling over 1,000 flights on Tuesday. The problem was with Britain's National Air Traffic Services's (NATS) flight processing system. The issue affected major airlines such as British Airways, EasyJet, KLM, and Lufthansa and caused widespread delays at airports including London Heathrow and Gatwick.
System recovery
NATS working urgently to resolve issue
Despite the glitch, British airspace remained open and flights continued to depart. However, NATS confirmed that they were working urgently to resolve the problem with their flight processing system.
"We have identified that the issue was in our flight processing system," NATS said in a statement.
By evening local time, they announced that a fix had been implemented and systems were starting to recover.
Operational adjustments
Heathrow, Gatwick airports coordinate to tackle disruption
Heathrow Airport coordinated with NATS to tackle the disruption, while Gatwick saw about 31% of its flights delayed.
British Airways was also hit hard by the glitch, with 96 cancellations reported.
The airline said it was "in touch with our customers whilst our teams work to get them on their way as quickly as possible."
International impact
EasyJet, Air India also affected
EasyJet also reported delays across Europe due to the NATS issue.
Air India warned that its flights to and from the UK were impacted, resulting in diversions, delays or cancelations.
The disruption extended beyond London as Edinburgh Airport and Dublin Airport also faced operational impacts.
Historical context
Similar disruptions in past due to technical failures
This isn't the first time technical failures have disrupted Britain's aviation network.
In 2023, an earlier flight-plan processing malfunction led to widespread chaos and cost the industry over £100 million in refunds and compensation.
A radar-related issue in July last year also disrupted flights for over four hours at Heathrow and other major airports.