Hundreds of flights were grounded on Tuesday in the U.K. due to a technical glitch in the air traffic control system, causing disruptions at major airports. The National Air Traffic Services (NATS) in Britain identified a problem in its flight processing system, leading to widespread flight disruptions across the country. This incident has raised concerns about NATS’ operations, especially following a similar incident three years ago.
By Tuesday afternoon, NATS confirmed that the issue with its flight data processing system had been resolved and assured that safety was not compromised. Despite the system being back to normal, the recovery process was challenging and created a backlog of flights, impacting the entire aviation network.
NATS CEO, Martin Rolfe, mentioned that the investigation into the root cause of the problem was still ongoing. Over 625 flights to and from U.K. airports, including London Heathrow, were canceled, affecting various airlines like British Airways, EasyJet, KLM, and Lufthansa, as reported by Flightradar24.
Passengers expressed frustration on social media about being stranded on the tarmac for hours before their flights were eventually canceled. Many criticized the lack of communication from airlines during the disruptions. The affected airports, including Stansted, City in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Gatwick, and Scotland, advised passengers to confirm flight statuses directly with their airlines.
Budget airline EasyJet reported flight cancellations and delays across Europe due to the system failure. Ryanair stated that around 150,000 passengers faced delays of up to eight hours and called for the resignation of NATS CEO, Martin Rolfe, criticizing the repeated mismanagement and failures.
Wizz Air also urged urgent reforms within the air traffic control system, stating that airlines, passengers, and airports should not bear the consequences of recurring system failures. The aviation regulator in Britain announced that it expects a detailed report from NATS on the incident, with potential further actions to secure the reliability of the country’s air traffic control system.