UK flight chaos: Planes stranded as Heathrow hit by ATC glitch
Dubai: Hundreds of aircraft were stranded, and passengers faced major disruption at airports across Britain on Tuesday after a technical failure in the country’s air traffic control system. Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted were among the airports affected after National Air Traffic Services (NATS) identified a problem with its flight processing system. By Tuesday evening, more than…
On Tuesday, a technical failure in Britain's air traffic control system caused significant disruption at airports across the country, leaving hundreds of airplanes stranded and thousands of passengers facing major delays. Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, and Stansted were among the affected airports, with over 1,000 flights cancelled by Tuesday evening, according to FlightRadar24.
Passengers were left waiting in long queues as airlines scrambled to reorganize schedules and crews. NATS, the country's air traffic control organization, identified the problem with its flight processing system and later acknowledged the issue had been resolved, but warned that clearing the backlog would take time. British Airways cancelled its entire short-haul schedule for Tuesday evening, while easyJet cancelled nearly 100 flights, and Ryanair reported that more than 65,000 passengers had been impacted by delays.
The latest disruption has reignited concerns over the resilience of Britain's air traffic control infrastructure, following previous technical failures, including a 2023 incident that affected over 700,000 passengers. Airports have advised travelers to check directly with their airlines for the latest flight information before traveling.
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