Air Traffic Control (ATC) in the United Kingdom (UK) is experiencing technical issues, resulting in potential flight disruptions across the country. British Airways, in response to a passenger on X (formerly known as Twitter), said that currently, “flights are subject to delays due to an IT failure at NATS”.
.gif)
NATS is “UK’s leading provider of air traffic control services,” according to its website. In a statement to Sky News, NATS said that the company is “currently experiencing a technical issue and have applied traffic flow restrictions to maintain safety”¹. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause,” it added.
Meanwhile, Dublin Airport (DUB), Ireland, published a statement saying that ATC issues in the UK “are resulting in delays to some flights into and out of Dublin Airport”. “We advise all passengers due to travel today to check the status of their flight with their airline in advance of traveling.” London Luton Airport (LTN) said that the ATC issue “is affecting UK airspace, resulting in disruption to flights”. “We’re working with the relevant authorities to understand the impact and the timescale for normal operations to resume,” LTN added.
Flightradar24.com data shows that while arrivals to UK airports experience minimal disruption, several airports throughout the country, including Manchester Airport (MUN), Birmingham Airport (BHX), as well as London’s Heathrow (LHR), Gatwick (LGW), and City (LCY) Airports are experiencing “some delays or few cancelations”. “We are continuing to work hard to resolve the technical issue. To clarify, UK airspace is not closed, we have had to apply air traffic flow restrictions which ensures we can maintain safety,” NATS said in an update at 12:40 PM local time (UTC +1). In conclusion, the ATC outage in the UK has caused flight disruptions on flights from/to the UK. Passengers are advised to check with their airlines for updates on their flights.