London — Britain’s air traffic control system suffered a major technical breakdown on Tuesday, triggering wave upon wave of cancellations and delays across UK airports and beyond. Nats, the national air traffic services provider, said the fault was fixed by late afternoon, but recovery was taking “longer than we had hoped,” with a “huge backlog” of flights and passengers.
Flightradar24, the flight monitoring service, reported that more than 1,000 flights had been cancelled across UK airports. Early estimates had put the number near 300. Airlines including British Airways, EasyJet, KLM and Lufthansa were forced to scrap dozens of journeys. Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers had been delayed by up to eight hours.
“Our system issue is now resolved, we are operating normally and working as hard as possible to clear the backlog of flights,” Nats said in a statement. “We know this is hugely frustrating and apologise unreservedly.”
Martin Rolfe, Nats chief executive, defended the organisation when asked if the breakdown proved it was not fit for purpose. “I don’t think so, no,” he told the BBC. “Whilst we never want these things to happen – and I absolutely apologise for the fact it has happened today – I do think we’re fit for purpose.” He said the system was probably down for around six hours and a full investigation was under way.
Wizz Air was scathing, branding Nats “simply not fit for purpose in its current form” and demanding “urgent reform.” A critical national infrastructure provider, the airline said, should not repeatedly bring the aviation system to a standstill. Nats declined to comment on the criticism.
At London Heathrow, arrivals were suspended for the rest of the day to ensure safety, while departures gradually resumed. Bristol Airport reported flights arriving and departing again, but warned of continued disruption. Manchester and East Midlands airports said they expected full schedules on Wednesday, though passengers should brace for residual delays.
The human toll was visible. Charlotte Simpson, at Gatwick with her fiance for a flight to Bari, Italy, where they plan to marry on Saturday, watched her flight get cancelled. “It’s pretty chaotic at the moment,” she said. “Everyone has been rushing on the phone, trying to call various airlines to try and get re-booked.”
Manish Pandey, stranded at Malta International Airport after his British Airways flight to London Gatwick was cancelled, described an airport filling with exhausted travellers. On a plane at Heathrow, passenger Emma Chun had been served her starter while waiting for steps to disembark after her New York-bound flight was scrubbed.
British Airways said it was forced to cancel or divert more than 100 flights, inconveniencing tens of thousands of customers. Long-haul arrivals were diverted to Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Brussels and beyond. As night fell, Glasgow and Leeds Bradford were still reporting disrupted services. Nats said it would conduct a full investigation into what went wrong.
