“Some delays to flights to and from Dublin Airport are possible this evening due to a now resolved air traffic control issue in the UK, which impacted on flights flying over the UK for a period of around 30 minutes earlier this afternoon,” Dublin Airport said in a statement.
“Passengers due to fly this evening are advised to contact their airline directly for updates on their flight”.
An air traffic control “technical issue” is affecting all outbound flights across the UK, Gatwick Airport said, while all of London’s airspace was closed earlier because of the technical failure, grounding hundreds of flights.
A passenger plane approaches a runway at Terminal 5 of Heathrow Airport. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe/File Photo
Today’s News in 90 Seconds – Wednesday, July 30
Nats, who run the airspace of England and Wales, said: “Departures at all airports have resumed and we are working with affected airlines and airports to clear the backlog safely.
“We apologise to everyone affected by this issue”.
The cause of the nationwide shutdown is said to be “radar issues”.
Ryanair has called for the resignation of the Nats CEO Martin Rolfe after what the airline described as “yet another” air traffic control system failure.
In a statement, Ryanair said the system failure is causing delays of more than four hours and resulted in a number of the airline’s flights being diverted, disrupting thousands of passengers.
A spokesperson said it is “unacceptable” that passengers, many travelling for “long-awaited” summer holidays, are being subject to needless delays.
“It is outrageous that passengers are once again being hit with delays and disruption due to Martin Rolfe’s continued mismanagement of Nats,” Ryanair COO Neal McMahon said.
“Yet another ATC system failure has resulted in the closure of UK airspace meaning thousands of passenger’s travel plans have been disrupted.
“It is clear that no lessons have been learnt since the August 2023 Nats system outage and passengers continue to suffer as a result”.
A spokesperson for Aer Lingus said one flight from London Heathrow to Dublin was cancelled today, but the airline is otherwise operating its full schedule.
“Customers are advised to arrive for their flights as scheduled and they will be updated directly if there is any change to their planned time of departure.”
They said customers impacted by the cancellation will be offered alternative travel options or a refund.
All of England and Wales’ skies are controlled by Nats, the British air traffic control centre, from its HQ at Swanwick in Hampshire.
A radar failure would leave controllers unable to see which aeroplanes are where in the sky, potentially affecting flight safety.
British Airways said the problem is “affecting the vast majority of our flights”.
Gatwick airport said it is affecting all outbound flights across the UK.
Birmingham airport said “departing flights from many UK airports have been suspended”.
Several flights scheduled to arrive at UK airports are being forced to conduct holding patterns or divert elsewhere.
Eurocontrol, the EU-wide air traffic control agency, said that the London control area was “temporarily unavailable due to technical issues”.
The problems began earlier this afternoon, according to the Eurocontrol notice.
A spokesman for Nats, the air traffic control company in charge of Britain’s skies, acknowledged a “technical issue” but said he could give no indication of when the problems would be fixed.
He said: “As a result of a technical issue at NATS Swanwick air traffic control centre, we are limiting the number of aircraft flying in the London control area in order to ensure safety, which is always our first priority.
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“We apologise for any delays this may cause. Our engineers are working hard to resolve the problem as quickly as possible and we are working closely with airlines to help minimise disruption.
“At this stage we cannot say how long it will be before operations are back to normal.
“Please check with your airline on the status of your flight.”