Flights Disrupted as Computer Failure Causes Chaos at UK Airports
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Flight problems at some of the UK’s busiest airports stretched into the weekend after a system failure at the main national air traffic control center in Swanwick.
There were 38 flights cancelled at Heathrow early on Saturday morning, “as a knock-on from yesterday”, according to a spokesman for the airport.
Planes were grounded and passengers experienced hours of delays and cancelled flights on Friday as London airspace was severely restricted for about an hour. Runways were closed for a period at Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, and Gatwick.
Flights which did land at London’s airports were unable to unload passengers with gates gridlocked. Others were taking off up to four hours late.
Flights started to depart again after 4:15 p.m., but passengers travelling to and from London’s largest airports faced lengthy delays and cancellations, the Guardian reported.
A Heathrow spokesman said on Friday there had been 70 cancellations out of about 1,300 scheduled flights.
Airports as far north as Aberdeen and Edinburgh were affected by the computer problem. Other airports that reported delays on Friday afternoon included Manchester, Stansted and Luton.
Budget flier easyJet said on Friday night that “EasyJet has had to cancel 10 flights to and from London Gatwick, however all aircraft which were earlier diverted have all now continued to their original destinations. In addition, it is likely that other flights to and from the south of the UK will suffer delays this evening.”
The airline said it had cancelled two Gatwick-bound flights scheduled for Saturday.
A message from Gatwick airport said on Friday evening that “Some cancellations should be expected and passengers are advised to contact their airline for the latest flight information.
“All departing flights were affected for a period but the situation is improving and we [are] hoping to restore a near normal service later this evening.”
In a statement on its website on Friday evening, British Airways said that “While the system is slowly recovering, we anticipate the knock-on effects to take some time to resolve. Additional staff have been brought in to assist our customers and we have booked a large number of hotel rooms to accommodate those who have been disrupted.”
Air traffic controller Nats was able to restore its computer services after the unknown glitch but hundreds of international flights had already been diverted or disrupted.