Flights grounded as U.K. Air traffic control systems experiences ‘technical issue’

A major breakdown’ of the UK’s air traffic control systems has caused delays for flights leaving and arriving from the UK. Due to a “network-wide failure,” temporary limits were imposed on UK airspace on the busy Bank Holiday Monday.

While national air traffic control engineers attempted to resolve a “technical issue,” which was “identified and remedied” by 3.30pm, passengers were advised of travel disruptions and several planes were grounded.

FAA extends slot waiver at New York airports(Opens in a new browser tab)

Hundreds of planes on Monday alone were impacted by the interruption, which occurred on a British national holiday and amid a busy end-of-summer travel period. Flying into and out of the UK was reserved for about 1 million people.

The automated flight planning had been shut down nationwide, including at London’s Heathrow, one of the busiest international airports in the world, according to the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) of Britain.

Air traffic control provider NATS in the UK apologized to customers who experienced delays and cancellations and advised them to get in touch with their airline to find out how the situation has affected their journey.

How will the world’s pilot shortage affect the aviation sector?(Opens in a new browser tab)

NATS claimed that while “traffic flow restrictions” were in place and air traffic controllers were forced to use manual techniques to sequence takeoffs and landings, U.K. airspace was never closed off.

“We are currently coordinating closely with airports and airlines to manage the impacted flights as effectively as we can. As we resume regular operations, our engineers will closely monitor the system’s performance.

Source