Flights disrupted across the UK amid air traffic control issue as Swanwick-based Nats issues statement
“This is unrelated to the issue two weeks ago,” the air traffic control service said.
Flights have been delayed in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England amid another air traffic control issue, it has been confirmed.
National Air Traffic Services (Nats), based in Swanwick, has announced that a “technical issue” has left flights grounded at airports in the northern part of the UK. There are no reports of issues relating to the likes of Gatwick and Heathrow airports at the time of publication.
The company insisted today’s (Monday, September 21) issue was unrelated to a software fault at Nats earlier this month which caused more than 2,000 flights to be cancelled.
Airports in Edinburgh, Belfast and Manchester were registering delayed flights and urging passengers to check with their airlines.
A Nats spokesperson said this morning: “Our engineers are continuing to investigate the issue at our Prestwick centre in Scotland. Airports south of Manchester are broadly unaffected, however flights heading north and flights departing Scottish airports are currently subject to some delay.
“Passengers should check with their airlines. This is unrelated to the issue two weeks ago. We apologise for the disruption.”
EasyJet has said the latest flight disruption “calls into question the resilience of Nats’ systems”.
The airline said in a statement: “A Nats air traffic control system failure in its Prestwick centre is causing delays to flights with some unable to operate. This, once again, calls into question the resilience of Nats’ systems and demonstrates the need for firm actions to prevent these repeated failures.
“We will do all we can minimise the impact of this for our customers and advise anyone due to fly today to check our flight tracker for the latest information.”