Dozens of flight cancellations hampered several UK airports on Wednesday – including Heathrow, one of Europe’s busiest hubs – following an hours-long air traffic control outage.
A number of key regional carriers scrapped hundreds of flights to and from London airports Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted on Tuesday. Although some flights have now resumed, many travellers continued to face cancellations and delays on Wednesday.
National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the UK’s air traffic control provider, has faced criticism for the outage and its boss has been summoned by the UK government.
Airports in London – including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted – reported disruption, as well as in Manchester. In total, more than 1,750 flights arriving into and departing from UK airports were canceled on Tuesday, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics firm. On Wednesday, at least 153 flights were canceled, Cirium said.
Heathrow said Wednesday morning that flights “are operating” but disruptions may continue as airlines “reposition aircraft and crew.” Travelers were told to check with their airline before traveling. Gatwick airport issued a similar statement.
