Hundreds of thousands of the passengers across the United Kingdom and beyond are stuck in a chaos following breakdown of the UK's air traffic control system. UK airspace has been hit by a network-wide failure for air traffic control systems.
Loganair confirmed on social media that the flights are delayed due to systems outage. “There has been a network-wide failure of UK air traffic control computer systems this morning. Although we are hopeful of being able to operate most intra-Scotland flights on the basis of local coordination and with a minimum of disruption, north-south and international flights may be subject to delays. If you are flying with us today, please check our website for the latest information about your flight before setting off for the airport.”
NATS, the national air traffic controllers, said in a statement: “We are currently experiencing a technical issue and have applied traffic flow restrictions to maintain safety. Engineers are working to find and fix the fault. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.”
According to Cirium data about 3,049 flights were due to depart UK airports equating to over 540,000 seats A further 3,054 flights were scheduled to arrive into UK airports today equating to an additional 543,000 seats.
Over the bank holiday weekend from 25 August to 28 August, about 11,839 flights were scheduled to depart UK airports equating to over 2.1 million seats while the departure numbers were 10% higher than the August Bank Holiday in 2022, and up 83% compared to 2021, showing a spike in outbound flight, plus scheduled departures across the weekend were also set to reach 90% of 2019 levels, cirium data reveals.
Easyjet passengers were told that the issue was currently affecting all flights due to fly in or out of the UK. In a message to the passengers, the airline said: “We have been advised of an air traffic control issue currently affecting all flights due to fly into or out of United Kingdom airspace. We are working with the relevant authorities to understand the impact of this issue and the timescale for normal operations to resume. If you are already onboard one of our places waiting to take off then our crew will keep you updated. If you are in one of our airports waiting to board then please continue to check the flight information screens in the terminals.”
Engineers are currently working to find and fix the fault.