Travel across Britain was thrown into chaos Tuesday after a technical problem affecting the country’s air traffic control system disrupted flights at major airports.
The disruption affected departures at several airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted, with hundreds of flights delayed or canceled. Flight-tracking data showed that close to 1,000 flights had been disrupted across six major airports during the day.
The problem was traced to the flight-processing system operated by NATS, the United Kingdom’s air navigation service provider. NATS said engineers were working urgently to identify and fix the issue while flights continued operating at reduced capacity.
Heathrow, Britain’s largest airport, was among the airports affected. Departures were temporarily paused at different points during the day, while Gatwick and other airports also experienced restrictions and delays.
The disruption quickly spread beyond individual airports because airlines operate tightly connected schedules. When aircraft and crews are delayed in one location, the effects can continue through later flights and other airports.
Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers had been affected by delays of up to eight hours and that it had canceled more than 50 flights. Other airlines, including British Airways and easyJet, also reported significant disruption.
By Tuesday evening, NATS said the technical issue had been resolved and that the system was operating normally. However, the company warned that clearing the backlog of delayed flights would take time.
The incident has renewed scrutiny of Britain’s air traffic control infrastructure, particularly because it follows previous technical problems that have caused widespread disruption in recent years.
Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority said it expects NATS to provide a full report on the incident and will consider whether further action is needed to improve the reliability of the country’s air traffic control system.