LONDON: UK flight control operator National Air Traffic Services announced on Monday that the technical issue causing delays and cancellation of flights had been identified and resolved.
Thousands of airline passengers confronted delays and flight cancellations after Britain’s air traffic control system developed a technical fault that slowed takeoffs and landings across the country.
National Air Traffic Services has said that flights could resume their normal operations as the problem has been fixed after three hours. However, the breakdown caused considerable losses to airlines as scores of flights were cancelled.
A message from our Operations Director about today’s disruption. pic.twitter.com/C4LWX7VyM8
— NATS (@NATS) August 28, 2023
NATS said the problem affected its ability to process flight plans automatically; thus, the flight plans had to be managed manually, causing delays in flight operations. It did not release the cause of the technical issue.
NATS imposes traffic flow restrictions
Following the technical problems, NATS imposed traffic flow restrictions for air traffic safety but did not close the UK airspace.
The service said that after fixing the problem, it is working closely with airlines and airports to manage the affected flights. It added that the engineers will be monitoring the system’s performance as normal operations are about to return.
European air traffic authority Eurocontrol had warned of high delays at UK and other European airports. Passengers flying to the UK from European airports have been told to expect flight delays. Dozens of flights were cancelled at London’s busiest airport, Heathrow.
UK flag carrier British Airways has made significant changes to its flight schedule and advised passengers to confirm their flights before going to the airport.
