Hundreds of flights faced cancellations on Tuesday in the United Kingdom due to a technical glitch in the air traffic control system, causing disruptions at major airports across the country. The National Air Traffic Services (NATS) of Britain reported an issue in their flight processing system that impacted flights nationwide.
This incident sparked renewed scrutiny on NATS, as it comes three years after a flight-plan processing failure that led to even more extensive disruptions. By Tuesday afternoon, NATS announced the resolution of the problem affecting its flight data processing system, emphasizing that safety was maintained throughout the issue.
CEO Martin Rolfe mentioned that a full investigation into the cause of the problem was still pending. The disruption led to the cancellation of at least 625 flights to and from various U.K. airports, including London Heathrow, affecting services provided by multiple airlines like British Airways, EasyJet, KLM, and Lufthansa.
Passengers expressed frustration on social media about being stranded on the tarmac for hours before their flights were eventually cancelled, citing a lack of communication from the airlines. The affected airports included Stansted, City in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Gatwick, and Scotland, advising passengers to stay updated on their flight status directly from their airlines.
Budget airline EasyJet confirmed that some of its flights were disrupted, leading to delays across Europe. Ryanair reported significant passenger impact with delays up to eight hours and over 200 flight cancellations, urging for the resignation of NATS CEO Martin Rolfe due to repeated mismanagement.
Wizz Air also called for urgent reform within the air traffic controller system, emphasizing that airlines, passengers, and airports should not bear the consequences of recurring system failures. The Civil Aviation Authority of Britain stated its expectation for NATS to provide a comprehensive report on the incident for further evaluation of the air traffic control system’s reliability in the U.K.
