Technical glitch causes UK flight disruption that could take ‘days’ to resolve

LONDON — A technical glitch, which has led to the disruption of hundreds of flights in the U.K., may take several “days” to resolve, causing chaos for passengers during the peak summer travel season.

The air traffic control services in the U.K. experienced a systems failure on Monday, resulting in delays and cancellations of numerous flights as operators were unable to process flight plans automatically.

After several hours, Britain’s National Air Traffic Service (NATS) announced that they had resolved the issue. However, it will still take time for flight schedules to return to normal.

“It will take some time for flights to resume their normal operations, and we will work closely with the airlines and airports to rectify the situation,” said Juliet Kennedy, NATS Operations Director, in a statement.

Kennedy also mentioned that an investigation is currently underway to determine the cause of the issue.

According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, more than a quarter (27%) of all flights to and from U.K. airports were canceled on Monday.

In total, 790 departures and 785 arrivals were canceled, with London’s busiest airport, Heathrow, experiencing the most significant disruptions, followed by London Gatwick and Manchester.

Transport Secretary of Britain, Mark Harper, stated on Tuesday that it would take “some days” to resolve the disruption.

“I acknowledge that this incident has caused inconvenience to thousands of people, and it will indeed take some time to restore normalcy,” Harper told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” show.

This issue occurred during the U.K.’s busy public holiday travel period, with many individuals returning from their summer vacations.

Harper mentioned that the Civil Aviation Authority of the U.K. is conducting an investigation to determine the cause of the failure and clarified that it was not a cyber attack.