Heathrow Airport flights resume as air site visitors management chaos ruins hundreds of holidays
Tens of thousands of travellers across multiple UK airports including Heathrow and Gatwick are facing major disruption following a technical issue at National Air Traffic Services
People stranded at Stansted Airport on Friday(Image: Ed Easton/Daily Mirror)
Heathrow Airport says departures have resumed after an air traffic control issue shut down most of the UK’s airports on Tuesday evening.
According to Flightradar24, more than 1,000 flights have been cancelled at UK airports due to the earlier technical issue at National Air Traffic Services. Tracking data from the site shows the stark contrast between inbound air traffic around 8pm on Monday.
More than 65,000 Ryanair passengers alone have been impacted by the cancellations and chaos. According to Eurocontrol 590 flights overall in the southern UK airspace (London ACC) were impacted by the disruptions at peak times. At Heathrow, 214 departing flights were cancelled and 180 departing flights were delayed today, as of 8.30pm, according to tracker site FlightAware.
Flight were grounded to a halt while the problem was resolved(Image: Ed Easton/Daily Mirror)
Nats has warned recovery from disruptions to flights will “take some time”, with tens of thousands of people said to be affected by the chaos which was spread across multiple airports across the UK. The knock-on effect of the disruption is likely to continue into Wednesday.
Heathrow Airport said that “disruption is expected to continue” due to the earlier technical issue at National Air Traffic Services. Arrivals remain suspended for the remainder of today, the statement adds. Passengers are told to check with their airline for the latest flight information before travelling to the airport.
They said in a statement: “Due to the earlier technical issue affecting @NATS arrivals into Heathrow have been suspended for the remainder of Tuesday 8 September to ensure the safety of our passengers and colleagues.
Heathrow Airport said that ‘disruption is expected to continue’(Image: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)
“Departures have resumed, but disruption is expected to continue, so we advise passengers to check with their airline for the latest flight information before travelling to the airport.
“We apologise to those affected and are supporting our local NATS team and airline partners as they work through the resulting disruption.”
Passengers have been urged to check the latest flight information with their airlines, while airports apologised for the disruption caused.
Passengers at Terminal 5 Heathrow after flights were cancelled on Tuesday(Image: Ellie Crabbe/PA Wire)
Katherina Wilken and her partner were supposed to be flying back from Heathrow to Düsseldorf in Germany on Tuesday afternoon. Ms Wilken said she began 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 expected 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. She added: “It’s way too stressful to stay in a hotel miles away, we will probably stay here (at the airport) tonight.”
Chris Knaggs, 67, was supposed to fly to Málaga from Gatwick at 7.10pm on Tuesday but has discovered his flight has been delayed until 11.45pm. The retired government worker told the Press Association: “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, discovered the delay through the airline’s website, which is currently running more than four hours behind schedule. “If it gets much further on, there’s a danger of it being cancelled,” he added.
Mr Knaggs said that once they touch down in Malaga, they will need to travel for three hours to reach their accommodation, meaning they probably won’t arrive until around 7am on Wednesday.
Nats said in a statement that recovery had “taken longer than we had hoped”, but that its “system issue” on Tuesday had been resolved by 7.30pm as thousands of passengers continued to face cancellations and delays.
Asked on Sky News whether he accepted responsibility for the incident which caused chaos for many passengers, with flight monitoring website Flightradar24 saying more than 1,000 flights had been cancelled at UK airports by about 8pm, Nats’ chief executive officer Martin Rolfe said “I always accept full responsibility”.
He said: “I am the CEO of a piece of critical infrastructure, so it is my job to take responsibility for that. What I absolutely take responsibility for is keeping people safe and delivering the best service we possibly can on a day like today. You will understand my focus is entirely about how we actually resolve this issue, get things back to normal, help our airlines, our airport customers and the travelling public.”
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