Flight disruptions in the UK likely will persist for the
next few days following a technical glitch in the nation’s air traffic control
system that caused delays and cancellations to hundreds of flights on Monday.
The UK’s National Air Traffic Services said the problem
stemmed from a technical issue that hindered their ability to automatically
process flight plans, which meant they had to input flight plans manually. Because
they could not process the same volume with manual methods, they had to enact
traffic flow restrictions. As of 3:15 pm UK time, the NATS reported that it had
resolved the issue.
“It will take some time for flights to return to
normal,” NATS operations director Juliet Kennedy said in a video posted on
the NATS site Monday evening UK time. “We will continue to work with the
airlines and the airports to recover the situation.”
While the statement did not elaborate on how long the
recover might take, British Airways already was allowing passengers booked
through Tuesday to change their flight to a later day without penalty. Aviation analyst Sally Gethin told
the BBC that there could be a “sizeable disruption” on Tuesday
and “a knock-on effect into later this week” as airlines work to
return to a normal schedule.
Aviation analytics firm Cirium, shortly before the issue was
reported resolved, said that 232 flights departing UK airports and 271 flights
arriving into UK airports had been cancelled, representing about 8 percent and
9 percent of scheduled flights, respectively. The day already was busier than
usual for UK airports due to the timing of a bank holiday.
