An air traffic control issue saw over a hundred flights delayed and cancelled yesterday (Thursday) affecting airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh. A 20-minute “technical issue” at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) centre in southern England led to hours of chaos at several of the nation’s airports.
One woman who was affected missed a wedding because her flight was cancelled after passengers sat on the plane, which remained on the tarmac for about three hours before people departed the aircraft.
Monica Clare, 68, from Brentford, west London, was on board an Aer Lingus plane preparing to take off from Heathrow for Shannon, Ireland, on Thursday afternoon when the problem began. She said the plane remained on the tarmac for about three hours before the captain announced his “shift was going to finish,” so the passengers would need to return to the terminal. Ms Clare branded the incident as “disgraceful” and said the situation inside the terminal was “bedlam”, with “suitcases everywhere”.
The retired maintenance manager returned home after being told Aer Lingus had no available seats on flights that would enable her to attend her friend’s wedding in Limerick on Friday. She said other routes, such as travelling to a port and taking a ferry, were impractical and too expensive after already paying out for flights. She is now trying to obtain refunds for car hire and hotel bookings.
Ms Clare told the PA news agency: “I’m absolutely numb. I’m so upset. I’m heartbroken. It’s disgraceful. I think it’s absolutely unbelievable in this day and age that something that went down for 20 minutes has caused havoc like that all over the country. “I’m so upset, I’m so angry. “I’ve spoken to my friend who’s getting married. They’re devastated. “We can’t go to the wedding. I was so excited, and it’s all gone.” Nats (National Air Traffic Services) said a radar-related problem affected flights in England and Wales for about 20 minutes on Thursday. This caused the cancellation of more than 150 flights, with many others delayed or diverted.
Another passenger, John Carr, a chiropodist from Stourbridge, was also affected by yesterday’s turmoil. Mr Carr, 35, said he was on his way to Norway with a group of friends to help set up his brother’s wedding — for which he is best man — when he found out after checking in that his flight was cancelled.
Mr Carr, speaking at Heathrow Airport, yesterday, said: “I’m pretty gutted. We’ve got loads of stuff in the suitcases to set up the venue, because we’re obviously flying to Norway. We’ve got the wedding rehearsal to do. It’s quite stressful.”
He said they did not receive any warning of the cancellation before it happened. Mr Carr said: “We had no idea.”
Despite fears that the cause of the incident was a cyber attack, authorities said there is no evidence that this was the case.
A spokesperson for the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) shared more details about the potential cause of the air traffic disruption.
They told the BBC it was a radar-related issue, which was resolved by quickly switching to the backup system. During this time, the spokesperson said, they reduced traffic to ensure safety.
There is no evidence that this was cyber-related, they added.