Airports throughout the U.K. reported significant disruptions to departing flights on Tuesday due to a technical problem within the country's air traffic control system. National Air Traffic Services (NATS) engineers were actively working to resolve the issue impacting the flight processing system, aiming to restore normal operations as swiftly as possible.
NATS stated on its website that while flights were still able to depart and the airspace remained open, the recovery process was expected to take time. Airports including London Heathrow and Stansted, as well as facilities in Manchester, Birmingham, and Scotland, confirmed the technical issue was causing delays and cancellations. Passengers were advised to verify their flight status directly with their airlines.
Arriving flights were not reported to be affected by the disruption. The specific cause of the technical problem remains unclear. Flight tracking service Flightradar24 indicated that the glitch resulted in approximately 300 flight cancellations.