UK airports suspend flights due to major radar outage
Radar systems went down as authorities investigated a glitch in the systems serving what is known as the London Control Area.
There is expected to be a significant knock-on effect on UK air services. Nats, the company that operates most UK air traffic services, said it is investigating.
Heathrow and Gatwick airports said take-off and landings were suspended. Within minutes, passengers were reporting knock-on effects of widespread delays and cancellations affecting flights.
In a statement, Gatwick Airport said: 'A technical issue impacting Nats is affecting all outbound flights across the UK. There are currently no departures from London Gatwick while the situation is being resolved.
'We are working with Nats to resume flights as quickly as possible. Inbound flights are still landing at the airport.'
Air-traffic controllers said the suspension of travel was a safety issue. 'Our engineers are working hard to resolve the problem as quickly as possible and we are working closely with airlines to help minimise disruption," it said in a statement. 'At this stage we cannot say how long it will be before operations are back to normal."
Three years ago, a technical glitch occurred for the National Air Traffic Services after a "fail-safe: mode activation could not reboot. The disruption lasted for days.
Earlier on Wednesday, emergency vehicles attended a United Airlines passenger jet at Heathrow when it returned after take-off following a distress call. United Airlines said they were evaluating technical issue following smoke in cabin on Flight UA949 at London Heathrow Airport.
The San Francisco-bound plane was minutes into its flight over the English city of Milton Keynes when it turned back.
The emergency landing at Heathrow went smoothly. The reports of smoke in the cabin were confirmed but no details of passenger welfare were immediately available.
The exact nature of the technical issue or engine fault is not known. The weather in the area was good.
The model is believed to be a Boeing 777-200ER. In June, another plane from the range was forced to land in Iceland during a flight to Rome. The plane was flying at 21,000 feet when it made a distress call to the mid-Atlantic airport.
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