UK airports disrupted by air traffic control issue

LONDON, July 30: A technical issue at UK’s air traffic controllers disrupted flights at major airports in London and elsewhere in the country on Wednesday, though the issue was later resolved and departures were resuming.

“Our systems are fully operational and air traffic capacity is returning to normal,” NATS, the country’s air traffic control provider, said in a post on X.

“Departures at all airports have resumed and we are working with affected airlines and airports to clear the backlog safely. We apologise to everyone affected by this issue.”

The outage, announced by NATS 20 minutes earlier, included Heathrow Airport, Britain’s largest airport and Europe’s busiest.

“Flights at Heathrow have resumed following a technical issue at the NATS Swanwick air traffic control centre. We are advising passengers to check with their airline before travelling,” an airport spokesperson said.

Gatwick Airport and Edinburgh Airport also said operations were resuming.

London City Airport had earlier also reported disruption. It was not clear exactly how long the outage had lasted.

In August 2023, flights across Britain were disrupted after the automatic processing of flight plans malfunctioned.

Britain’s aviation regulator last year said NATS needed to review its contingency plans for outages after the outage, which airline bosses said cost them over 100 million pounds ($133 million) in refunds and compensation.

($1 = 0.7534 pounds)