London airports chaos: Over 150 flights cancelled — what caused 20-minute outage? What's happening now?
Thousands of passengers faced disruption at - or while trying to reach - UK airports when an air traffic control glitch led to more than 100 flights being delayed and cancelled.
According to Bloomberg, movements at Heathrow, the biggest airport in the UK and the busiest in Europe, were affected. London Gatwick airport said that 'there are currently no departures from London Gatwick while the situation is being resolved." The smaller City airport also faced disruptions.
Here's what happened exactly and what was the glitch that led to the chaos at UK airports:
A "technical issue" at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) centre in southern England temporarily suspended flights at key UK airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, and Edinburgh.
The temporary outage at NATS lasted only 20 minutes but it has caused major disruption and hours of chaos at UK airports.
A spokesperson for the NATS shared details about the potential cause of Wednesday's air traffic disruption.
They told the BBC it was a radar-related issue, which was resolved by quickly switching to the back-up system. During this time, the spokesperson says, they reduced traffic to ensure safety. "There is no evidence that this was cyber related," they added.
As of 19:30 BST on Wednesday (12:00 am Thursday), 67 departures and 55 arrivals were cancelled across all UK airports, BBC reported.
And around 22:00 BST (2:30 am IST), more than 150 flights to and from the UK were reportedly cancelled.
As many as 84 outbound flights and 71 arrivals were cancelled across the UK. London Heathrow saw the highest number of cancellations so far - 29 departures and 17 arrivals, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
NATS, the leading provider of UK air-traffic control, said its systems are fully operational again and air traffic capacity is returning to normal - but there was a backlog of flights following the outage with many delayed, The Independent reported.
'This was a radar-related issue which was resolved by quickly switching to the back-up system during which time we reduced traffic to ensure safety,' Nats said, adding that there was 'no evidence this was cyber-related'.
The UK's transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said passengers should check with individual airports for advice.
National Air Traffic Services is the main provider of air traffic control services to airports in the UK. One of its main roles is operating control centres to manage UK airspace.
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What London has said The UK's Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander acknowledged the situation, warning that 'continued disruption is expected' and advising passengers to 'check with individual airports for advice.' The Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey criticised the repeated failures, calling for a government-led investigation. 'It is utterly unacceptable that after a major disruption just two years ago, air traffic control has once again been hit by a technical fault,' Davey said. 'The Government should launch an urgent investigation to ensure the system is fit for purpose, including ruling out hostile action as a cause.' The UK Department for Transport echoed the call for answers but pointed out that the immediate crisis had passed. A spokesperson said: 'While passengers should continue to check with individual airports for advice, NATS have confirmed their systems are now fully operational and flights are returning to normal. We are working closely with NATS to understand the cause of the technical issue and the implications for the resilience systems in place.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD NATS has not ruled out the possibility of cyber interference or hostile foreign action, though it has provided no evidence of such a link. The company has so far declined to comment on Martin Rolfe's position or further details on the root cause, saying only that 'our engineers have now restored the system that was affected this afternoon. We are in the process of resuming normal operations in the London area. We continue to work closely with airline and airport customers to minimise disruption. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.' Why the impact will last for days Despite the relatively short duration of the fault – around 20 minutes before NATS switched to backup systems – the fallout is immense because of how tightly airline schedules run, especially in summer. Aircraft and crews were scattered across unintended destinations. Some flights were cancelled outright because aircraft were out of position, while others had to turn back mid-route, creating a cascading effect that will take time to untangle. Holidaymakers hoping for quick recovery may be disappointed. Airlines are already under pressure during the peak travel season, and every delay or diversion causes additional scheduling complications. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Adding to passenger frustration, most travellers will not be entitled to financial compensation. Because the air traffic control failure was outside of airline control, carriers are not obligated to pay out under EU and UK compensation rules, though they must provide support like rebooking or hotel accommodation if needed. By Wednesday evening, NATS announced that 'departures at all airports have resumed' and that its systems were 'fully operational.' Heathrow, Gatwick and Edinburgh airports confirmed operations were restarting, but the backlog of stranded aircraft and displaced crews means many schedules remain in disarray. Also Watch: With inputs from agencies
