UK air traffic control fault disrupts over 1,000 flights, airlines call for reform; Air India issues advisory for flyers
A technical fault at UK air traffic control provider NATS disrupted over 1,000 flights, with cancellations and delays at major airports. Air India said it had to divert, delay or cancel multiple UK flights and advised passengers to check flight status.
On Tuesday, a technical fault at UK air traffic control provider NATS disrupted over 1,000 flights, causing more than 1,300 cancellations and hundreds of delays. The issue was resolved at 1834 GMT, but NATS CEO Martin Rolfe stated that the company had not yet fully investigated the cause. The disruption resulted in nearly all flights at Heathrow Airport being cancelled on Tuesday, with arrivals suspended and departures resuming.
Heathrow warned that disruption would continue. FlightAware data showed around 490 departures were delayed at six airports, while 525 arrivals were either cancelled or delayed. British Airways was the most affected carrier, cancelling 16 of 333 scheduled departures. Aviation analyst John Strickland noted that a few hours of outage can have an enormous impact when multiple airports in the UK are affected.
British Airways and Ryanair called on NATS CEO Martin Rolfe to resign, while Wizz Air demanded urgent reform. Air India flights operating to and from UK airports were also impacted, with the airline advising passengers to check flight statuses before proceeding to the airport. The Civil Aviation Authority will expect NATS to share a full report of the incident and consider further steps to secure the reliability of the UK's air traffic control system.
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