Heathrow and Gatwick cancellations - live: Air traffic control chaos across UK

Heathrow and Gatwick cancellations - live: Air traffic control chaos across UK Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester, Birmingham are all among the airports hit by a major problem with air traffic control systems across the UK that has left tens of thousands stranded Hundreds of departing flights from at least 15 UK airports including Heathrow and Gatwick have been cancelled due a major technical problem affecting air traffic control systems. Tens of thousands have been left stranded for up to eight hours with distressed passengers reporting being left waiting on runways. Airports currently hit by disruption include Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, London City, London Southend, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Liverpool John Lennon, Aberdeen, Belfast, EMA, Southampton and Jersey. The problems are expected to last until at least 9pm today (Tuesday) and have already led to 625 flight cancellations. A number of passengers waiting for flights home from Europe have also reported long delays. National Air Traffic Services (NATS) says it is investigating a "technical issue" causing disruption to flight departures, with engineers on site working to fix the problem. Ryanair CEO Neal McMahon called on his NATS counterpart, Martin Rolfe to quit asking "How many more failures do passengers have to suffer." Has your flight been affected by the air traffic control fault? Contact us via [email protected] Key Events There have now been 625 flight cancellations due to an air traffic control issue at UK airports, states Flightradar24. It wrote on X: "As of 1700 UTC, 625 flights have been canceled at airports in the UK following an earlier technical problem at NATS’ Shanwick ATC facility. easyJet: 218 British Airways: 132 Ryanair 41 KLM 37 Eurowings 22." Passengers who were part way through their British Airways flight from London to Shanghai have had to turn around to disembark at Cardiff, FlightRadar24 has said. BA169 from Heathrow to Shanghai turned back due to a “technical issue” and has since diverted to Cardiff – likely due to the air traffic fallout. Asked why it could not land in Gatwick or Stansted, FlightRadar24 said on social media: “London area airports are being heavily impacted by the earlier Nats technical issue, likely unable to accommodate the diversion.” A statement from Stansted Airport has warned passengers of disruption for the remainder of the day. It reads on X: "Due to ongoing UK wide NATS air traffic control issue, flight disruption will continue for the rest of the day. "Before travelling to the airport can you please check your flight status directly with your airline. Only travel to the airport if your airline has confirmed that your flight is operating." Recovery from disruptions to flights leaving the UK caused by an air traffic control issue will “take some time”, Nats has said, after more than 400 flights were cancelled. Katherina Wilken and her partner were due to be flying back from Heathrow to Dusseldorf in Germany on Tuesday afternoon. Ms Wilken said she started to “panic” when at 3pm she had no gate information for her flight scheduled for 2.45pm, which was said to be delayed until 3.25pm. The 26-year-old said she and her partner are now due to depart Heathrow at around 7am on Wednesday. “We waited a long time because the display only said delayed for a long time and then that didn’t change,” she said. “Then we started to question staff.” She added: “It’s way too stressful to stay in a hotel miles away, we will probably stay here (at the airport) tonight.” Edinburgh Airport have said there will continued to be “knock on impacts” from Nats technical issues despite a fix implemented. A spokesman for Edinburgh Airport said: “Nats has confirmed it has implemented a fix to the technical issue that was impacting UK airspace, including Edinburgh. “There will continue to be knock on impacts throughout the rest of the day due to delays experienced across the UK. We are working closely with local air traffic control, airlines and other partners to minimise disruption where possible. “Passengers should continue to check with their airline for the latest information on their flight.” Eurocontrol has said the “situation remains very dynamic” and engineers are working to resolve it. The European air traffic manager said: “A technical issue affecting the London Flight Information Region (FIR) has led to the implementation of multiple ATFM (Air Traffic Flow Management) regulations. "Eurocontrol is in close coordination with UK air navigation service provider Nats as well as with all operational stakeholders to mitigate any disruption to network traffic. “The situation remains very dynamic. Engineers are working to resolve the situation. There is currently no indication on how long the measures will be in place.” A total of 425 flights to and from UK airports had been cancelled by 5pm as the fallout from the Nats issue continued, according to FlightRadar24. It said EasyJet had 137 flights cancelled, British Airways 111, KLM 26, Eurowings 22 and Ryanair 21. This comes as airlines “manage their flying programmes for the rest of the day”, the air traffic tracker said. Passengers took to social media to complain about disruption and criticise airlines for “zero communication”. One woman told EasyJet on X: “I appreciate it is difficult, but the lack of communication at Alicante re delays is abysmal”. Another user said: “Flight from Porto to Gatwick cancelled. No sign of any easyJet staff for those that have gone through security and need to leave the airport”. Shortly after 4.45pm, one man told the airline: “Stuck on runway at Gatwick still after meant to take off at 2:20pm. At least EasyJet have offered us a snack of up to value £2.80! Can’t even buy any food or beverages and I’m starving”. Many social media accounts messaged the airline with their flight numbers requesting updates, one account saying: “Venice to Bristol EZY2832, all been dumped off a plane back to the gate with zero communication. Already 3 hours delayed, what’s the plan?” Planes heading to London airports have been diverted to other locations including Manchester with a map showing little air traffic over the capital. A post on X from Flightradar24 states: "Rare view of London today — turns out there’s actually a city underneath all those yellow aircraft icons." An easyJet passenger says she has been told to expect delays of five hours for her flight in what she described as "chaos" at Luton Airport. She wrote on X: "@easyJet flight delays from Luton airport. Currently projecting delays of 5 hours." And in an update wrote: "Chaos at Luton Airport now. Not just Gatwick and Heathrow." Chris Knaggs, 67, was due to fly to Malaga at 7.10pm today but has found out his flight has been delayed until 11:45pm. The retired government worker said: “We had a message from EasyJet saying there’s going to be a delay and to wait for more information. Other than that, we’re trying to pick up information off the news.“ Mr Knaggs, from south London, found out through the airline’s website about the delay, which is currently over four hours. “If it gets much further on there’s a danger of it being cancelled,” he added. Mr Knaggs said that once they arrive in Malaga, they will have to travel for three hours to reach their accommodation, meaning they likely won’t arrive until around 7am on Wednesday. A statement from Ryanair says that "over 65,000" passengers have been delayed up to eight hours with more than 50 flight cancellations. The airline has also called for the resignation of NATS boss Marton Rolfe after what it claimed was "yet another UK ATC system failure". Ryanair said it "called on overpaid failing NATS CEO, Martin Rolfe, to quit after yet another UK ATC system failure caused widespread delays and cancellations across UK airspace today (8 Sept), disrupting over 65,000 Ryanair passengers and cancelling over 50 scheduled flights." Passengers are facing chaos at airports due to an air traffic control issue which will "take some time" to recover from, said Nats, after some 200 flights were cancelled. Birmingham Airport said the issue was affecting airspace in the south of the UK and was “impacting a significant number of departing flights across the country”. Heathrow Airport, the UK’s largest airport in west London, confirmed it was among those impacted but said arriving flights were “currently not affected” in a statement on Tuesday afternoon. Manchester Airport Group, the company that operates Manchester Airport, Stansted Airport in Essex and East Midlands Airport in Leicestershire, said flights from all three had been affected by the issue. Jersey Airport in the Channel Islands, London City Airport, London Southend, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Southampton and Belfast airports said they were also experiencing some disruption. Around 200 flights were cancelled on Tuesday afternoon because of the air traffic control issue, with that number expected to rise, flight monitoring website Flightradar24 said. Passengers have been advised to check the latest flight information with their airlines. It is understood a fix is now in place. Nats, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports, said in a statement it was “investigating a technical issue” causing disruption to some flight departures, and later said it had identified the problem was in its “flight processing system”. Some departures from Newcastle Airport have been delayed by the Nats technical issue. A Newcastle Airport spokesperson said: “We are aware of a technical issue affecting Nats which is impacting some flights at airports across the UK. “While some departures from Newcastle are experiencing delays, our operations have not been affected to the same extent as those at some airports in the south of the country. “Passengers are advised to check with their airline for the latest flight information.” Heathrow has issued an updated statement confirming the NATS technical issue is now affecting both arriving and departing flights across UK airports. A spokesperson said the airport is continuing to support its local NATS team as work continues to resolve the problem. Passengers have been advised to check directly with their airline for the latest information and only travel to the airport if their flight is confirmed. Live scenes from Gatwick Airport show the situation as flights across the UK continue to be disrupted by the air traffic control technical issue. Passengers have faced delays and cancellations throughout the afternoon as airports work through the knock-on impact. Around 4% of UK flights have been cancelled or delayed because of the air traffic control issue, according to Flightradar24. Its director of communications Ian Petchenik told PA the disruption was likely to remain significant, particularly when connecting flights are taken into account. He said the 4% figure was “certainly much higher than normal”, adding that further cancellations were likely even though NATS appears to have resolved the technical problem. Mr Petchenik said: “Once the damage has been done it takes a little time to unwind, so I think we’ll start to see cancellations increase for a while then decrease.” He added that airlines would now have to decide which services were best placed to operate in order to move the largest number of passengers through the system. Flightradar24 said the first report of the issue came through Eurocontrol at 1.17pm BST. Nearly 300 flights have now been cancelled this afternoon, according to Flightradar24, even as NATS says its systems are beginning to recover following a fix. British Airways has cancelled 96 flights, while easyJet has cancelled 92. KLM has cancelled 20 flights, Lufthansa 12 and Swiss 11, with disruption still expected as operations gradually return to normal. NATS says its system is starting to recover after a fix was implemented for the technical issue which caused widespread flight disruption across the UK. The development comes after hundreds of cancellations and lengthy delays were reported at airports across the country. Further disruption is still expected while operations return to normal. A picture sent to the Mirror shows passengers waiting onboard Ryanair flight FR282 from Toulouse to Stansted amid the ongoing disruption. The flight had been due to leave at 12.10pm, but a passenger told the Mirror it was initially delayed by an equipment issue before travellers were moved onto another aircraft. They said passengers were still onboard at 5.22pm, with updates being given around every 30 minutes as they wait for further information on the NATS disruption. Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham are among the airports worst affected by the disruption, according to Flightradar24. At Heathrow, 352 flights have been delayed out of an average of around 1,300 daily operations, while Gatwick has seen 281 delays out of around 850. Manchester has recorded 249 delayed flights out of an average 650 operations, with 101 delays at Birmingham out of around 300. Around 200 flights were cancelled this afternoon because of the UK air traffic control issue, according to Flightradar24. The flight monitoring website said the number of cancellations is expected to rise as disruption continues across UK airports. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander says technicians have identified the issue affecting flights and are working to fix it. In a post on X, she said she was aware of disruption at airports including Heathrow and Gatwick and acknowledged the frustration being caused to passengers. More than half of flights at Edinburgh Airport are delayed, according to Flightradar24. The flight tracker says 58% of services are affected, with delays averaging 26 minutes. Edinburgh is also ranked fourth globally on its map of air traffic disruption. Edinburgh Airport said the NATS technical issue affecting UK airspace may cause delays and urged passengers to check directly with their airline for the latest flight information. EasyJet says some of its flights are “unable to operate” due to the NATS technical issue affecting air traffic control. The airline said the problem is causing delays to flights across Europe and that some services cannot operate as planned. Passengers on affected flights are being offered options including a free transfer or refund, while meals and hotel accommodation will be provided where required. EasyJet has urged anyone due to fly today to check its flight tracker for the latest information. A family member has told the Mirror that their son and his family have been stuck on a plane at Glasgow Airport for hours while waiting to fly to Cyprus. They said flight EZY3169 to Larnaca had been due to take off at 1.25pm. The family is still waiting for the flight to depart. A passenger told the Mirror that they have been stuck on a Ryanair aircraft since midday, with temperatures said to be above 30C and no indication of when the flight will move. They also claimed a disabled passenger who warned they could become unwell if they overheated was offered the option of leaving the aircraft. The Mirror has contacted Ryanair for comment. London City Airport has confirmed it is experiencing disruption to departing flights due to the air traffic control issue affecting airports across London. Passengers have been advised to check their flight status with their airline before travelling to the airport. A passenger on an Air France flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Newcastle has said they were told of a five-hour delay after boarding. They said they were now stuck on the aircraft with their baby while waiting to depart. A Flightradar24 map shows a number of aircraft sitting at Heathrow Airport as disruption from the NATS technical issue continues. The tracker shows planes remaining on the ground while departure delays build, with passengers at Heathrow among those facing lengthy waits. Flights are still departing, but NATS has warned that recovery from the fault “will take some time”.