Flights to and from Britain are expected to face significant disruptions for several days, according to an announcement by the U.K. government on Tuesday. The country’s air traffic control system encountered a technical issue, leaving numerous passengers stranded abroad or experiencing extensive delays.
Cirium, an aviation analytics company, reported that approximately 280 flights were canceled on Tuesday, accounting for roughly 5 percent of all scheduled flights in and out of Britain. This aggravates the travel predicament of British holidaymakers, as more than a thousand flights had already been canceled the previous day.
The timing of the problem couldn’t have been worse, as many travelers were returning home from their summer vacations or extended weekends due to a public holiday on Monday. Mark Harper, the government minister responsible for transport policy, expressed his sympathy, acknowledging the significant disruption caused by the issue. He mentioned that flights had been canceled the previous day in order to prioritize the safe operation of the system, and it would take several days to fully restore normal operations.
Harper further clarified that the government’s technical experts had ruled out the possibility of a cyberattack as the cause of the incident. The National Air Traffic Service, in charge of air traffic control, explained that a failure in the automatic system for processing flight routes necessitated manual entry for several hours.
Safety remains the top priority when addressing air traffic control problems, leading to the temporary grounding or cancellation of hundreds of flights in order to ensure the safe landing of planes already in the air. Additionally, the delays persisted on Tuesday due to aircraft and crew members being displaced from their original positions.
Juliet Kennedy, the operations director of the air traffic service, issued an apology in a video statement on Monday night. She acknowledged that it would take time for flights to return to normal and committed to conducting a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the glitch.
Passengers have been strongly advised to verify the status of their flights with their respective airlines before heading to the airport to avoid inconvenience.
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