Since this morning, serious flight disruptions have been reported at many British airports due to a technical malfunction in the air traffic control system.
As time goes on, the situation is proving to be much more serious than initially thought. According to the latest figures, more than 400 flights have now been canceled across the country, while at least another 600 flights have been delayed. At Heathrow Airport alone, approximately 100 flights were canceled and 367 were delayed, while at Gatwick Airport, approximately 31% of flights departed late.
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According to the information table on the Hermes Airports website, it appears that 8 flights to and from Cyprus were also affected by the issue. Specifically, three arrivals from London to Larnaca and three departures from Larnaca to London appear to have been canceled, one of which was scheduled for Wednesday morning.
At Paphos Airport, it appears that three flights from London and one from Manchester were canceled, along with corresponding departures from Paphos to those destinations.
The problem was traced to the flight plan processing system. As announced by the air traffic control provider, “engineers are working to fully restore service. “British airspace has not been closed, but traffic has been significantly restricted.” Experts, however, warn that it will take considerable time to fully restore normal operations.
The following airports are particularly affected: Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, and London City. Problems are also being reported at the airports in Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Belfast. At Heathrow and Gatwick, departures were temporarily suspended this morning and subsequently resumed at a significantly reduced rate.
The problem was not limited to departures but also affected arrivals in London, resulting in some aircraft being grounded at European airports or diverted to Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, and Düsseldorf.
It is worth noting, as analysts point out, that even once the technical problem is fully resolved, the effects will likely continue for several hours, possibly until tomorrow, as aircraft and crews will be off schedule and the backlog of flights will need to be worked through.
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