Planes grounded to and from the UK due to a ‘technical issue’ with air traffic control – go live
Planes departing and bound for Britain have been grounded after an issue with air traffic control led to restrictions on UK airspace.
“We are currently experiencing a technical issue and have implemented traffic flow restrictions to maintain safety,” NATS, the national air traffic controllers, said in a statement. Engineers are working to find faults and fix them.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
In an updated statement, NATS clarified that UK airspace was not closed, but said “traffic flow restrictions” were being put in place as it tried to resolve the issue.
EasyJet passengers have been told that the issue is currently affecting all flights scheduled to travel to or from the UK.
A message sent to travelers read: “We have been made aware of an air traffic control issue that is currently affecting all flights scheduled to fly into or out of UK airspace.
“We are working with the relevant authorities to understand the impact of this issue and the timeline for resuming normal operations.”
Follow the latest updates in the live blog below
01:07 pm GMT
Birmingham Airport says it is “working to understand the effects” of the air traffic control failure
We are working to understand the impacts of ATC failures across the UK, and timelines for fixing them. Customers scheduled to enter or exit BHX are advised to monitor the latest information from their airline, live flight data on our website and on the screens in our terminal.
— Birmingham Airport (@bhx_official) August 28, 2023
01:00 pm GMT
London Stansted Airport says the air traffic control issue is ‘likely to affect some flights’
12:55 pm GMT
Luton Airport confirms flight disruption
12:50 pm GMT
Engineers ‘troubleshooting’
National Air Traffic Services said it was facing a “technical problem” and had implemented traffic flow restrictions to maintain safety.
In a statement, it said: “We are currently experiencing a technical issue and have implemented traffic flow restrictions to maintain safety.
“Engineers are working to find out and fix it. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
12:49 pm GMT
Announcer Gabe Logan has fallen into a turmoil
She tweeted: “On a plane on the runway at Budapest Airport. After nearly 3 weeks away from home, I only have hours left to hug my family. And we have just been told that UK airspace is closed. We can be here for 12 hours. So we sit on the plane and wait.”
