Britain’s already chaotic air travel industry was further thrown into confusion on Tuesday when a botched air traffic control system disrupted services at airports all over the country. Over 1,000 flights were quashed, with thousands of international passengers suffering long delays, both on the plane and in terminals.
The glitch was reported to be attributed to an issue with Britain’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) flight processing system. The disruption was still impacting operations but the problem was to be resolved by Tuesday evening, said the organisation, which was helping to clear up a large backlog at airlines and airports.
Delays were seen on 15 UK airports, and even for flights outside the UK, according to flight-tracking website “Flightradar24”.
One of the airports included was London Heathrow. Departures restarted but with an airport closure for the rest of the night until the sites notified passengers that delays may be occurring again.
British Airways passengers were trapped in the airport in London for Baltimore at Heathrow for about four hours before being asked to leave the plane. Cabin crew was providing meals while passengers were watching movies and waiting for updates during the delay. There was more trouble at the baggage claim, where it is said people were having trouble reclaiming their bags.
British Airways had to cancel or divert more than 100 flights, it reported. Ryanair too said that it could not have possibly caused much disruption – over 65,000 people were affected and more than 50 of its flights were cancelled.
Problems were also reported at Gatwick. Shortly before her shooting-to-Ireland flight was called off, Josie Donoghue was onboard for three hours on a Ryanair plane, she said.
Other airports were also affected; these were London Stansted, London City, Manchester, Birmingham, Gatwick and airports in Scotland.
The Airlines have again urged passengers to verify their personal status before leaving for a flight due to the problem continuing to cause ripple effects throughout the aviation system. The disruption also brought about social media backlash, with users expressing their dissatisfaction with the waiting time and providing inadequate information from the airlines.