LONDON: Flight disruptions continued across the United Kingdom on Wednesday after a technical problem affecting the country’s air traffic control system led to more than 1,300 cancellations a day earlier.
Flight tracking service FlightRadar24 reported that 177 flights scheduled for Wednesday had been cancelled, with most of the latest cancellations affecting London Heathrow Airport.
The National Air Traffic Services (Nats), which manages the UK’s air traffic control, said it had resolved the technical problem but warned that clearing the resulting backlog would take time.
Heathrow said departures had resumed but warned passengers that disruption was expected to continue and advised them to check with airlines before travelling to the airport.
How severe is the disruption?
The technical problem caused widespread disruption at UK airports, affecting tens of thousands of passengers.
British Airways warned of a significant knock-on effect from the cancellations, while Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers had been affected and that it had cancelled more than 50 flights.
Airports in Liverpool, Birmingham and Edinburgh were also affected. Dublin Airport in Ireland reported dozens of cancellations linked to the disruption.
The disruption followed the cancellation of about 1,300 flights to and from UK airports on Tuesday, according to FlightRadar24.
Nats said the incident had created difficulties across the wider aviation network and apologised to affected passengers.
Is Nats facing pressure over the failure?
Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe said he accepted full responsibility for the disruption but did not indicate whether he would resign.
UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was due to meet Rolfe on Wednesday to seek assurances over the incident and the reliability of systems supporting the aviation sector.
Ryanair Chief Operating Officer Neal McMahon renewed calls for Rolfe to be dismissed, accusing Nats of failing UK travellers.
The latest disruption has also renewed scrutiny of Britain’s air traffic control infrastructure following a major systems failure in 2023 that affected more than 700,000 passengers.
Airlines and airports are continuing efforts to clear the backlog, with passengers warned to expect further delays and cancellations.