A technical failure in NATS processing system, the operator responsible for British air traffic control, caused this Wednesday the cancellation of nine flights between London and Portuguese airports in Lisbon and Faro, in a context where at least 250 flights were affected in the United Kingdom.
The failure was initially detected on Tuesday, forcing the cancellation of approximately 1,300 flights at major British airports. After being repaired, it experienced problems again today. At Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport in Porto, no flight cancellations with connections to London were recorded.
The latest data from the FlightRadar24 portal indicates that, until early morning, 246 flights had been cancelled at Heathrow, the country's largest airport, and several dozen at Gatwick. Heathrow airport asked passengers to go to the terminals only if their flights are confirmed, while Gatwick warned that the return to normal operations "will take time".
The British Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, from the Labour Party, summoned NATS CEO Martin Wolfe for a meeting. Wolfe apologized for the impact of the disruption, which affected tens of thousands of passengers, indicating that an investigation is underway. NATS, a 49% state-owned operator, provides services at 15 airports in the United Kingdom, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
