Heathrow (pictured) plus Gatwick, London City and Stansted airports have been worst affected. Photograph: Commission Air/AlamyHeathrow (pictured) plus Gatwick, London City and Stansted airports have been worst affected. Photograph: Commission Air/AlamyAir traffic control issue causes flight delays and disruption across UKDepartures from London airports worst hit as National Air Traffic Services investigates technical problem
Flights around the UK are facing delays and disruption due to an air traffic control issue which has affected a string of airports including Heathrow and Gatwick and is expected to take “some time” to resolve.
Departures from London airports are most severely affected, with few take-offs since a fault was reported early on Tuesday afternoon.
Most flights due to depart Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and London City airports since 2pm appeared to have been delayed or are yet to take off. Manchester airport has also been affected.
The air traffic control service Nats said at 1.46pm that it was “investigating a technical issue which is causing some disruption to flight departures”.
Nats later added that it had identified the problem, which was in its flight processing system. It said: “Our engineers are on site and working urgently to resume normal operations as quickly as possible. We recognise the ongoing disruption to travel, for which we sincerely apologise.
It continued: “Flights are still departing and airspace is open, but recovery will take some time. We will provide further updates as soon as possible.”
The UK’s biggest airport, Heathrow, said planes were continuing to arrive, although Eurocontrol said some inbound flights were being held at airports abroad, with disruption likely to continue until the evening.
In a statement, Heathrow added: “We are supporting our local Nats team in their efforts to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We will provide updated information when we have it.
“We apologise to those disrupted and advise passengers to check with their airline for latest flight information.”
Heathrow’s website showed several flights due to depart this afternoon have been cancelled. British Airways said it was experiencing some disruption and was in touch with its customers.
Belfast City airport warned of “some disruption” to flights after the technical issue affecting Nats.
“Due to the technical issue referenced below, there may be some disruption to flights due to arrive in and depart from Belfast City airport,” they said in a statement.”
A Birmingham airport spokesperson apologised to customers and advised them to “arrive at Birmingham airport (BHX) in line with their airline’s check-in requirements and to contact their airline directly for the latest flight information and updates.”
Edinburgh airport said it was aware of the issue which “may impact operations”.
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