After a technological collapse in UK air traffic control left hundreds of thousands of travelers stuck or delayed on the summer bank holiday. Airline passengers have been warned that flight disruptions could last for days.
Returning vacationers and those seeking to fly out of UK airports suffered cancellations and delays of up to 12 hours after takeoffs, while inbound flights were halted due to a "network-wide" computer breakdown. A departure board at Budapest's Ferenc Liszt International Airport displayed delays and cancellations for aircraft destined for the United Kingdom.
A limited number of flights were allowed to take off, but air traffic was severely restricted as engineers worked to identify and resolve the issue. With controllers obliged to manually enter flight plans, around 500 aircraft were canceled and others were delayed for hours before NATS, the national airspace controllers, stated at 3.15 p.m. that it had "identified and remedied" the issue that had arisen nearly four hours earlier.
Passengers at airports around the UK and Europe reported being stranded, with travel plans disrupted and check-in counters closed, while airlines were unable to confirm if their flights would depart. The unusually protracted outage is expected to cause disruption for several days, with crew and planes left out of position causing additional delays. British Airways said anyone scheduled to fly on Monday or Tuesday may change their flights for free, while Heathrow advised travelers to arrive at the airport only if planes were verified to be operating.
At Gatwick, where over 150 flights were canceled. EasyJet canceled practically all foreign flights departing on Monday afternoon. The airline has yet to clarify which flights will fly on Tuesday, although it is expected to have some ongoing influence on its itineraries.
In a statement, Gatwick said it would "operate a normal schedule" on Tuesday, but customers were "advised to check the status of their flight with the airline before traveling to the airport."
Planes were delayed beginning at 11.30 a.m., according to flight tracking websites. At around 12.10 p.m., NATS confirmed the situation, saying it was "currently experiencing a technical issue" and had "applied traffic flow restrictions to maintain safety."
After declaring that the original problem had been resolved, NATS stated, "We are now working closely with airlines and airports to manage the affected flights as efficiently as possible."