Hundreds of planes flying to and from the United Kingdom were grounded yesterday, and many more were delayed for hours due to a fault with the NATS air traffic control system. As the automatic software was unavailable for several hours, flight paths had to be approved manually.
The consequences of the issue, which has now been technically fixed, are enormous today. Many planes are in the wrong location because they were grounded yesterday, preventing them from flying today. Because of restrictions on the number of hours, pilots and crews can wait for an aircraft to depart, many were unable to work services when they eventually flew and were therefore in the wrong locations.
On Monday, 790 departures and 785 arrivals were canceled. This amounted to around 27% of all planned flights to and from the United Kingdom. Heathrow experienced the most cancellations, followed by Gatwick and Manchester.
Gatwick Airport
At least 23 departures and 51 arrivals were canceled at Gatwick Airport on Tuesday. The EasyJet flight from Belfast to Gatwick was canceled this morning, as were the flights from Nantes and Nice.
The British Airways flight to Las Vegas, planned to depart at 11 a.m., has been delayed by more than three hours, while the TUI service to Fuerteventura, scheduled to depart early this afternoon, has been postponed until late this evening.
Heathrow Airport
The West London airport, the busiest in the country, is likely to be the hardest affected. So far today, at least 32 Heathrow Airport departures and 31 arrivals have been canceled. British Airways, which handles the most flights to and from the airport in west London, was the worst hit. BA flights from Heathrow to Dublin, Faro, and Nashville were canceled early today, with services to Ibiza and Düsseldorf delayed.
City of Birmingham Airport
The easyJet flight from Glasgow scheduled for this morning has been canceled, as have the Ryanair flights from Bordeaux, Girona, and Ibiza. The airport has listed dozens of delayed arrivals this morning and afternoon, but the vast majority are anticipated to be only a few minutes late.
Stansted Airport
Ten arrivals are recorded as canceled, including Ryanair flights from Gothenburg, Oporto, and Budapest. There will likely be many more who are an hour or less late. This is, of course, subject to major change throughout the day.
Manchester International Airport
As of this morning, 17 flights to and from the airport had been canceled, with an additional 25 scheduled to be delayed. The 8.45 a.m. EasyJet flight to Belfast, the 9.15 a.m. Ryanair trip to Cork, and the 10 a.m. Jet2 flights to Tenerife were all canceled.
Liverpool John Lennon Airport
Today, the airport, which operates far fewer services than nearby Manchester, expects to cancel only three arrivals and no departures. Flights from Belfast were canceled this morning, and flights from Faro and Malaga were canceled this afternoon.
Edinburgh Airport
The 6.25 am flight to Stansted, the 7.30 am flight to Krakow, the 8.35 am flight to Bari, the 8.50 am flight to London City, and the 9.20 am flight to Heathrow were all canceled from the Scottish capital on Tuesday morning. There are now ten cancellations to and from the airport listed today. Some delays are expected into the evening, with the majority lasting between an hour and two hours.
Glasgow Airport
This morning's BA flight to Heathrow was canceled, as were easyJet flights to Bristol and Gatwick. So far, five departing and six incoming flights have been canceled, with numerous others delayed.
There have been fears that some of the fallout might persist for days. Airports suggest that schedules remained considerably impacted and that anyone planning to fly on Tuesday should contact their carrier beforehand.