EU issues major border update for UK travellers
The EES will digitise border crossings, requiring British passport holders to provide fingerprints and facial biometrics. Children under 12 will be exempt from fingerprinting.
The system will undergo a phased implementation until 9 April 2026, during which some border points will require biometrics while others remain analogue.
Meanwhile, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (Etias) is confirmed to commence operations in the last quarter of 2026.
The fee for the Etias 'euro-visa' has been officially increased from €7 to €20, with exemptions for those under 18, over 70, and certain family members of EU citizens.
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The Sun
a minute ago
- The Sun
Fans stunned as THREE Destination X contestants are immediately axed in brutal opening twist
TV FANS were left feeling stunned as three Destination X contestants were immediately axed in a brutal opening twist. Forget Barry Island, Rob Brydon has set off on a new adventure – this time to Destination X. 3 3 3 Destination X is a show based on a Belgian series, which sees contestants sent to a random destination before they have to try and work out where they are. They all travel on a blacked out bus and will have to take on challenges and games along the way which will give them clues as to where they are. At the end of each episode the contestant who places an X on the map the furthest away from their actual destination will be sent packing. It is a promising cross between The Traitors and Race Across The World, which each command six million viewers and the BBC has invested millions in the show. In tonight's launch, a group of thirteen travellers met each other at a busy airport. But there was a shock twist in store - only 10 players would make it through to continue the game. Host Rob called the players towards him and said: "The game is observation, deduction and alliance building. "And all the time you should have one question in mind - Where in the world am I?" He added: "There are 13 of you in front of me but only ten of you will be progressing beyond these doors. "There are numerous suitcases strewn around, I would like you each to bring me one that weighs the maximum hand baggage allowance of 10kg." The contestants scrambled about to weigh various suitcases and chaos reigned as clothes were discarded from pieces of luggage. Rob then remarked that only the first six people would be given an exclusive lounge access card. Once six had been successful, Rob then told the remaining contestants that only another 4 would go through and that three would go home. The first four of them to bring him a trinket or souvenir from one of the passengers previously mentioned at the airport - would be their key to a boarding pass. As the contestants searched keyrings, mugs, and gifts in the airport and tried to remember the passenger names - the pressure was on. Until, Retired Detective Sergeant Claire, Economics Graduate Ashvin and Historian Chloe-Anne were left waiting behind. Rob said: "Claire, Ashvin and Chloe-Anne, I'm afraid it's goodbye. Please leave the airport." Then he added: "Well that doesn't feel nice." Fans of the show flocked to social media and one wrote: "We can't lose the retired detective so early on?!" Another added: "Hate early eliminations in games like this - all the players will have taken time out of their lives to play, seems harsh to boot them day one. "Unless there's a twist involving the players removed." "3 gone already? Damn," stated another viewer. "This is a perfect mix of The Traitors, Coach Trip and ," said another fan. "Very harsh twist," added another fan of the show.
The Independent
31 minutes ago
- The Independent
Airports in chaos after air traffic control outage grounds flights across UK
An air traffic control fault left tens of thousands of summer holidaymakers facing the chaos of grounded planes and suspended take-offs on Wednesday. Passengers across Europe were stranded during the peak holiday season when planes were diverted, some turning around mid-air to return to their departure cities because of a 20-minute glitch. Heathrow, Gatwick, London City, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester Airports were all among the airports hit by the outage that left many aircraft and flight crew out of position. Take-offs for thousands of passengers were cancelled because inbound flights had turned back. In some cases, travellers were held on planes on the tarmac with no news of when their flight might take off, or even after landing. Flights to destinations including Marseille, Lyon, Brussels, Glasgow, Newcastle, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Berlin, Frankfurt and Basel were cancelled. Some planes scheduled to arrive at UK airports were forced to conduct holding patterns or divert elsewhere. The disruption, which began just after 4pm on Wednesday, was down to a 'technical issue' at the control centre of ATC provider Nats in Swanwick, Hampshire, the company said. Flight analytics experts Cirium said that by 5.30pm, 80 flights to and from the UK had been cancelled. British Airways, which was the airline hardest hit, restricted Heathrow inbound and outbound flights to 32 an hour until 7.15pm before volumes returned to their usual 45 an hour, creating a backlog. Almost all BA flights on Wednesday evening were delayed, with at least a dozen encountering delays of two hours or more: to places including Chicago, New York JFK, Pittsburgh, Valencia, Prague, Nice, Edinburgh and Belfast City. Heathrow's night curfew was expected to be lifted to allow airlines to get their schedules back to normal. But the disruption left passengers upset. John Carr, from Stourbridge, was worried his flight cancellation would force him to miss his brother's wedding in Norway, for which he was best man. Mr Carr, 35, said: 'I'm pretty gutted. We've got loads of stuff in the suitcases to set up the venue, because we're obviously flying to Norway. We've got the wedding rehearsal to do. It's quite stressful.' Other passengers complained they were left confused because of 'terrible communication' from airports and airlines. Even passengers on later flights on Wednesday faced disruption. At Southend, an incoming plane from Gran Canaria ended up on Jersey, and a round-trip to Amsterdam was cancelled. London City airport was also badly hit, with one BA flight from Glasgow returning to its starting place, and links to Rotterdam, Palma and Amsterdam cancelled. Britain's biggest budget airline, easyJet, attacked Nats for 'once again causing disruption' after a system outage in August 2023 that caused chaos for at least 700,000 passengers. David Morgan, easyJet's chief operating officer, said: 'While our priority today is supporting our customers, we will want to understand from Nats what steps they are taking to ensure issues don't continue.' The airline cancelled at least 16 flights to and from its main base, Gatwick Airport. Passengers were told: 'We are advising customers travelling this evening to check our Flight Tracker for the most up-to-date information on their flight and are contacting all impacted customers directly. While this is outside of our control, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused by the ATC failure.' Ryanair went further, calling for Nats' chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign, claiming no lessons had been learnt in two years. Nats was contacted for comment. The company said: 'We are working with affected airlines and airports to clear the backlog safely. We apologise to everyone affected by this issue.' One expert said it was understood the software prioritised safety over keeping airspace open. Junade Ali, a fellow at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, said: 'Nats has previously thoroughly investigated such incidents and implemented suitable measures. 'From prior incident reports, the software is understood to not compromise safety at the expense of keeping airspace open. "This is the right approach as, whilst keeping airspace open is important, the public risk appetite demands a high standard of safety when it comes to air travel.' A Department for Transport spokesperson said: 'We are working closely with Nats to understand the cause of the technical issue and the implications for the resilience systems in place.' The Liberal Democrats called for an investigation into the glitch. Party leader Sir Ed Davey said: "With thousands of families preparing to go on a well-earned break, this just isn't good enough. 'The government should launch an urgent investigation to ensure the system is fit for purpose, including ruling out hostile action as a cause.'
Telegraph
31 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Holidaymakers face travel chaos after air traffic control radar failure
Summer holidaymakers are facing days of travel chaos after an air traffic control failure grounded flights across the UK. Airspace across Britain was closed on Wednesday afternoon because of a radar issue that disrupted hundreds of flights. While the breakdown was fixed within the hour, the knock-on effects from hundreds of delays and diversions – as well as at least 122 cancellations – are expected to last for days. Nats [National Air Traffic Services], the air traffic control company responsible for Britain's skies, refused to rule out hostile foreign action or a hack as the cause of the failure, fuelling calls for an 'urgent investigation' into possible malign interference. The system failure came at the peak of the summer holiday season and ahead of the busiest day of the year for commercial flights, which falls on Friday. Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, said 'continued disruption is expected' and urged passengers to 'check with individual airports for advice'. Aviation expert John Strickland warned that holidaymakers could face days of chaos because airlines were already stretched thin during the summer getaway period. 'In the absolute worst case, this could knock on for the next few days because pretty much all airline fleets are being used at full tilt right now,' he said. However, affected travellers are unlikely to be eligible for compensation because the incident was out of the control of airlines, who would otherwise pay. Passengers were left on the tarmac at other airports across the UK including Heathrow, Birmingham, Gatwick, Stansted and Cardiff while arriving planes were sent to destinations in Europe such as Amsterdam, Paris and Brussels. Monica Clare, 68, was due to fly with her cousin Geri Hawkins, 71, on Aer Lingus to a wedding in Limerick, Ireland, but their 2.40pm flight from Heathrow was cancelled after the captain's shift ended during the disruption. In Edinburgh, a group of 40 French holidaymakers were left stranded after two flights to Paris were cancelled while tourists in Faro told The Telegraph that flight attendants were handing out water to cope with delays in the Portuguese heat. Virgin Atlantic apologised to affected passengers while British Airways (BA) said the problem was 'affecting the vast majority of our flights', with at least half a dozen flights diverted. A BA source said: 'We don't know what caused this yet but it appears to have been a radar issue and Nats are responsible for the radar, so you have to say the buck stops with them.' The Telegraph understands that the air traffic control system shut down when radar systems at Nats' Swanwick area control centre in Hampshire stopped displaying flights at around 2.30pm, forcing controllers to stop accepting new arrivals into UK airspace. All flights on the ground bound for UK airports were immediately stopped from taking off, while those which were airborne but outside British skies were ordered to divert elsewhere. Flights which were preparing to land in the UK when the failure happened were able to do so safely because it only affected Nats' upper airspace unit, which does not handle individual airports' operations. Domestic flights were able to continue operating during the outage provided they stayed below 24,500 feet, The Telegraph understands. That is because the outage was limited to the Swanwick centre, which only controls flights above that height. Nats came under fire for the failure, which came two years after an engineer who was working from home struggled to fix a four-hour outage. The failure forced the cancellation of thousands of flights around the world, disrupted 700,000 passengers' journeys and cost airlines, travellers and others an estimated £100 million in total. On Wednesday Ryanair called on Martin Rolfe, Nats's chief executive, to resign after claiming 'no lessons had been learnt' from the 2023 meltdown. Neal McMahon, Ryanair's chief operating officer, said: 'It is outrageous that passengers are once again being hit with delays and disruption due to Martin Rolfe's continued mismanagement of Nats. 'Yet another ATC system failure has resulted in the closure of UK airspace meaning thousands of passengers' travel plans have been disrupted. 'It is clear that no lessons have been learnt since the August 2023 Nats system outage and passengers continue to suffer as a result.' He called on the Transport Secretary to 'act without delay to remove Martin Rolfe and deliver urgent reform of Nats's shambolic ATC service, so that airlines and passengers are no longer forced to endure these preventable delays caused by persistent Nats failures'. Air traffic control bosses confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that service had been restored but refused to answer any queries about the root cause or Mr Rolfe's future with the company. In a statement, Nats said: '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.' Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, called for a Government inquiry into whether Nats fell victim to a foreign hack. Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said on Wednesday: '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. 'The Government should launch an urgent investigation to ensure the system is fit for purpose, including ruling out hostile action as a cause.' A Department for Transport 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.'
