Nurphoto NATS issued a 3:15 pm London time statement saying that it was working with airlines and airports in order to manage flights as efficiently as possible. In an update released at 2.20 pm, NATS stated that the problem remained unresolved. Air traffic control is currently being handled manually. Until our engineers have resolved this, flight plans are being input manually which means we cannot process them at the same volume, hence we have applied traffic flow restrictions,” it said.
Holiday travel disruption
NATS first announced the disruption at 12.10 p.m. and clarified that “UK airspace is not closed” following reports on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.
The issue with air traffic control was announced earlier by Scottish airline Loganair,
that there was a “network-wide failure of UK air traffic control computer systems this morning. Passengers warned they may face serious delays. It comes during the U.K.’s busy bank holiday travel period, with many people returning from summer holidays.
Gatwick Airport, London’s second-largest airport,
it was “seeing delays, and
cancellations are likely,” while
the air traffic control issue was “affecting UK airspace, resulting in disruption to flights. Stansted Airport, London’s second-largest airport,
that it was “aware” of a nationwide issue with air traffic control that affects flights into and out of all the country’s airports. Flight tracking website Flightradar24 posted an image of live air traffic at 12:35 p.m. London Time on X.
In a statement accompanying the post, it stated that U.K. Airports, including Heathrow appear to be “significantly limiting” departures, although arrivals are continuing.
In a statement accompanying the post, it also said U.K. In an accompanying statement, it said that U.K. airports, including Heathrow, appear to be “significantly limiting departures,” although arrivals continue.