Hundreds of flights in and out of the UK have been delayed due to a “network-wide” computer failure at the national air traffic control systems.
Some passengers have been told they could face delays of up to 12 hours while engineers seek to tackle the fault.
According to flight tracking sites, few planes have been able to take off from London Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport, since 11.30am, while inbound short-haul flights have been held from departure.
A spokesperson for Nats, the national airspace controllers, said: “We are currently experiencing a technical issue and have applied traffic flow restrictions to maintain safety. Engineers are working to find and then fix the fault.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “As a result of national airspace issues there is disruption to flights across the UK. Passengers are advised to check with their airline for the latest information. We are working closely with Nats and other airport partners to minimize the impact this has on passengers.”
British Airways told passengers that its flights were subject to delays. A spokesperson added: “We are working closely with Nats to understand the impact of a technical issue that is affecting UK airspace, and will keep our customers up to date with the latest information.”
The Glasgow-based regional carrier Loganair warned customers on X, formerly known as Twitter: “There has been a network-wide failure of UK air traffic control computer systems this morning.”
It said regional Scottish flights could operate but international flights could be delayed.
Those affected by delays included many people returning from the World Athletics Championships in Hungary.
The BBC presenter Gabby Logan said on X that her plane was stuck on the runway at Budapest airport, adding: “After almost 3 weeks away from home I am hours from hugging my family. And have just been told UK airspace is shut. We could be here for 12 hours. So we sit on the plane and wait.”
London Gatwick said planes were continuing to take off and land on Monday afternoon.
Engineers at Nats will be racing against the clock, with an extended outage likely to spell widespread cancellations. A computer glitch at the control center in Swanwick in 2014 affected flights until the following day, despite airspace being curtailed only for about an hour.
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