28-8-2023 (LONDON) The National Air Traffic Service (NATS) in Britain faced a significant technical issue on Monday (Aug 28), leading to aircraft flow restrictions and the manual input of flight plans. This situation has prompted warnings of flight delays and cancellations affecting European air travel.
NATS issued a statement, acknowledging the problem and explaining the measures being taken: “We are currently experiencing a technical issue and have applied traffic flow restrictions to maintain safety. Engineers are working to find and fix the fault.” Importantly, NATS clarified that UK airspace remained open.
The technical issue specifically impacted NATS’ ability to automatically process flight plans. The statement elaborated, “Until our engineers have resolved this, flight plans are being input manually which means we cannot process them at the same volume … Our technical experts are looking at all possible solutions to rectify this as quickly as possible.”
AirNav Ireland, the Irish air traffic control provider, highlighted the extensive disruptions caused by this issue, particularly for flights across Europe traversing UK airspace. The situation has arisen during a public holiday in parts of Britain.
London Heathrow, one of Western Europe’s busiest airports, reported that it was collaborating with NATS and other airport partners to mitigate the impact on passengers. Meanwhile, Gatwick Airport, situated south of London, indicated that cancellations were likely.
Earlier in the day, Scottish airline Loganair revealed on social media that there had been a network-wide failure of the UK air traffic control computer systems.
British Airways stated that it was closely coordinating with NATS to assess the situation’s implications. Several other airlines, including Ryanair, warned of potential delays or cancellations for flights to and from the UK.
Multiple airports, including Manchester Airport and London Stansted, cautioned passengers about potential disruptions to flights. Others, such as London Luton and Birmingham, were actively assessing the situation to determine when normal operations could resume.
Dublin Airport reported delays and cancellations for flights arriving at and departing from the Irish capital due to the air traffic control issues.
Numerous passengers took to social media to share their experiences of being stranded on planes on the tarmac, as well as being held in airport terminals. This disruption affected passengers in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Israel, and other locations. The timing of this issue coincided with the end of the school holidays, making it a traditionally busy travel day.
A Reuters witness who was stranded on the tarmac at Budapest for two hours before being deplaned reported that the pilot had informed passengers of a potential delay of eight to 12 hours.
