A technical failure in the British air traffic control system today caused the cancellation of nine flights between Lisbon and Faro and London, out of a total of at least 250 flights affected in the United Kingdom. The situation is due to problems in the NATS operator's processing system, which were detected on Tuesday, when they forced the cancellation of around 1,300 flights at major British airports. After being repaired, the failure is once again causing disruptions.
Heathrow airport, the largest and busiest in Europe, has recorded 246 cancelled flights, in addition to dozens at Gatwick. The disruptions persist while airlines reallocate aircraft and crew, and Heathrow asked passengers to only go to the terminals with confirmed flights. Gatwick warned that a return to normal operations "will take time" and advised passengers to contact the airlines.
The British Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, a member of the Labour Party, convened a meeting with the NATS CEO, Martin Wolfe. He apologised for the impact of the disruption, which affected tens of thousands of passengers, stating that an investigation is underway to determine the causes of the failure.
NATS, the British air traffic control operator with 49% state ownership, provides services at 15 airports in the United Kingdom, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow. At Porto airport, there were no cancellations to London at 09:30.
