skip to main content

Passengers warned of three-hour delays after air traffic control glitch

Updated / Saturday, 13 Dec 2014 11:42
People queueing at Stansted Airport in London after flights were delayed
People queueing at Stansted Airport in London after flights were delayed

Flights in the London area are returning to normal after a power failure at a major air traffic control centre caused havoc.

But flight mayhem at some of England's busiest thoroughfares could stretch in to the weekend.

Dozens of flights were cancelled and many others delayed after a computer failure at Nats' company headquarters this afternoon.

The Irish Aviation Authority has warned of two to three-hour delays on many flights between Ireland and the UK and much of the rest of Europe tonight.

At around 8pm this evening NATS said they "can confirm that the system has been restored to full operational capability and a thorough investigation is continuing to identify the root cause."

"Although operational restrictions applied during the failure have been lifted, it will take time for flight operations across the UK to fully recover so passengers should contact their airline for the status of their flight.

"We apologise for the impact that this issue has had, and the delays and inconvenience caused."

Air traffic management company Eurocontrol said there had been "a failure" at the centre.

NATS has ruled out a power outage as the source of the glitch.

Airports in the north of England such as Aberdeen and Edinburgh were affected by the computer problem. Other airports that reported delays this afternoon included Manchester, Stansted and Luton.

Budget airline easyJet said tonight: "EasyJet has had to cancel ten flights to and from London Gatwick, however all aircraft which were earlier diverted have all now continued to their original destinations. In addition, it is likely that other flights to and from the south of the UK will suffer delays this evening."

The airline said it had cancelled two Gatwick-bound flights scheduled for tomorrow.

Gatwick Airport said this evening: "Some cancellations should be expected and passengers are advised to contact their airline for the latest flight information.

"All departing flights were affected for a period but the situation is improving and we (are) hoping to restore a near normal service later this evening."

At Heathrow, a spokesman said there had been 70 cancellations out of about 1,300 scheduled flights.

"They're coming back to normal now," he said.

"The problem that we'll have this evening is that it'll take us a while to get through those flights that were scheduled to depart."

Some additional transport has been organised to Heathrow.

Passengers are advised to check airline websites for further information.

The state-of-the art air traffic control centre at Swanwick has been subject to a number of computer glitches since NATS moved there from its old headquarters in west London in the early part of the last decade.

One of the worst problems was a year ago - on Saturday 7 December 2013 - when thousands of passengers were left stranded when hundreds of flights were grounded following a technical fault at the Hampshire centre.

Ryanair criticised the system failure. In a statement, the airline said: "We apologise to customers for any inconvenience and thank them for their patience.  

"It's unacceptable that the NATS ATC system dropped for the second time in 12 months, particularly on a busy Friday in the run up to Christmas."

Ryanair warned passengers to expect delays but said cancellations were not envisaged.

Aer Lingus also said it plans "to operate all flights for the remainder of the day.  However customers can expect lengthy delays on flights between Ireland, UK and Continental Europe." 

More stories on