Flights risk ‘diversion’ amid UK air traffic system failure, Simon Calder says
Holidaymakers are facing days of travel chaos after a technical fault with the UK’s air traffic control system left hundreds of thousands of airline passengers stranded or delayed.
The outage on one of the busiest days of the year left traffic controllers inputting flight paths manually after their digital systems went down in a “network-wide” computer failure.
An estimated 1,200 flights to and from the UK were cancelled, according to The Independent’s travel expert Simon Calder, while thousands more were delayed.
National Air Traffic Services (Nats) said at 3.15pm that it had “identified and remedied” the technical issue, but later warned the ensuing disruption could last further into the week. Nats also said the failure would be investigated “very thoroughly”.
Around one million passengers had been due to fly to and from the UK on the Monday bank holiday, figures suggests – with many facing delays of up to 12 hours.
Have you been affected by delays? If so email andy.gregory@independent.co.uk
Passengers express frustration over flight cancellations
Passengers stuck in the UK and abroad described their frustration, as some had no idea when or how they would get to their destination.
Rory Dollard, 40, cricket correspondent for PA Media, was stuck at Bergerac Dordogne Perigord airport in France and was told it may take up to six days before he and his family – his wife Joanne, 40, and children Emily, 10, and Arthur, eight – could return home to Skipton, North Yorkshire.
Lyudmila Hristova, 57, said her and her husband’s plans to attend her niece’s wedding in Bulgaria were “ruined” after BA cancelled their 2pm flight from Heathrow to Sofia.
Travellers wait near the British Airways check-in area at Heathrow Airport, as Britain’s National Air Traffic Service (Nats) restricts UK air traffic due to a technical issue causing delays, in London, Britain, 28 August 2023
(Reuters)
And a German couple were considering returning home by train after their flight from London to Stuttgart was cancelled.
Myria Mebold, 36, also said that British Airways “didn’t know anything at all” when she and her husband asked about the situation and their flight.
Major UK airlines such as Tui and BA warned of…
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