Over 150 UK flights cancelled after air traffic glitch

UK travellers faced more misery on Wednesday with more than 150 flights scrapped across the country, as Britain’s air traffic control service scrambled to recover from a technical glitch that sparked chaos.

Aircraft tracking website FlightRadar24 said 177 flights scheduled for Wednesday had already been axed, following 1,300 cancellations to and from UK airports a day before.

Nearly all the latest affected flights were at Britain’s busiest airport Heathrow in London, FlightRadar24 wrote on X.

The National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said it was still working to resolve disruption following a “system issue”.

“This has been a very complex recovery and has created difficulties for the whole aviation network, from which it will take time to recover,” said NATS in an X post late Tuesday.

UK news outlets reported that British Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander will meet NATS boss Martin Rolfe on Wednesday.

Rolfe told UK outlet Sky News he accepted “full responsibility” but declined to say if he was considering quitting his job.

Transport Secretary Alexander said earlier on X she was “seeking assurances that lessons will be learned and systems that support aviation are up to the job”.

But Ryanair COO Neal McMahon repeated his calls for Rolfe to be fired, accusing him of having again “failed UK travellers”.

“Enough is enough, it’s time for the UK government to intervene… and put somebody in charge who can do the job.”

– ‘Knock-on impact’ –

Heathrow said late Tuesday that departures had resumed, after the “technical issue” forced the airport to suspend arrivals.

But it warned that “disruption is expected to continue”, asking passengers in an X post to check with their airline before travelling to the airport.

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British Airways also warned of a “significant knock-in impact” from the cancellations, which had affected tens of thousands of its customers.

NATS said earlier it had “resolved” the glitch that caused the disruption and was “working as hard as possible to clear the backlog of flights”.

“We know this is hugely frustrating and apologise unreservedly,” the organisation wrote on X.

The air traffic chaos follow a technical glitch in July last year that saw scores of flights to and from the UK cancelled, prompting anger from airline chiefs.

Britain suffered its worst air systems failure in years in 2023, with more than 700,000 passengers affected after hundreds of flights were delayed or cancelled.

– ‘Absolute nightmare’ –

Healthcare worker Josie Donoghue said it was “an absolute nightmare” at Gatwick after leaving the airport, having had to disembark her flight to Ireland after three hours stuck on the runway.

“Getting through that airport was like trying to get out of Alcatraz,” she told Britain’s domestic Press Association news agency.

Liverpool, Birmingham and Edinburgh airports were also affected, while Dublin Aiport in Ireland said it had cancelled dozens of flights.

Irish no-frills carrier Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers had been disrupted and it had cancelled more than 50 flights.

Arsenal, due to play Napoli in the Champions League Wednesday in the southern Italian city, were forced to cancel a news conference ahead of the match after the team’s flight was delayed.