Air traffic chaos as ‘technical issue' affecting UK sees flights grounded and widespread delays
"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,' Gatwick Airport has said.
'We are working with NATS to resume flights as quickly as possible. Inbound flights are still landing at the airport. Passengers should check the status of their flights with their airline'.
The cause of the nationwide shutdown is said to be 'radar issues'.
All of England and Wales' skies are controlled by Nats, the British air traffic control centre, from its HQ at Swanwick in Hampshire.
A radar failure would leave controllers unable to see which aeroplanes are where in the sky, potentially affecting flight safety.
British Airways said the problem is 'affecting the vast majority of our flights'.
Gatwick airport said it is affecting all outbound flights across the UK.
Birmingham airport said 'departing flights from many UK airports have been suspended'.
Several flights scheduled to arrive at UK airports are being forced to conduct holding patterns or divert elsewhere.
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More than 700,000 passengers suffered disruption when flights were grounded at UK airports on August 28 2023 when Nats suffered a technical glitch while processing a flight plan.
Eurocontrol, the EU-wide air traffic control agency, said that the London control area was 'temporarily unavailable due to technical issues'.
The problems began earlier this afternoon, according to the Eurocontrol notice.
A spokesman for Nats, the air traffic control company in charge of Britain's skies, acknowledged a 'technical issue' but said he could give no indication of when the problems would be fixed.
He said: 'As a result of a technical issue at NATS Swanwick air traffic control centre, we are limiting the number of aircraft flying in the London control area in order to ensure safety, which is always our first priority.
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'We apologise for any delays this may cause. Our engineers are working hard to resolve the problem as quickly as possible and we are working closely with airlines to help minimise disruption.
'At this stage we cannot say how long it will be before operations are back to normal.
'Please check with your airline on the status of your flight.'
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