Air travel disruptions persist in the UK following a glitch that affected hundreds of flights
About 1,300 flights were canceled on Tuesday across the country, when the disruption began in the early afternoon. On Wednesday, another 177 flights were canceled, almost all at London's Heathrow Airport.
Image of those affected by the delays
Air operations continue to be disrupted this Wednesday in the United Kingdom, with hundreds of delays and cancellations, one day after a technical glitch affected the agency responsible for air traffic control, which ruled out the possibility that the incident was caused by a cyberattack.
According to the flight-tracking website FlightRadar24, about 1,300 flights were canceled Tuesday in the country, when the disruption began in the early afternoon. Another 177 cancellations were added on Wednesday, almost all at London's Heathrow Airport.
The air traffic control agency NATS, which serves 15 airports, reported that the glitch had already been "resolved," though it warned that the disruption caused difficulties across the entire network and that recovery "will take time." The agency stated that it is working to reduce the accumulated delays.
According to British media outlets cited by AFP, Rolfe was summoned by Transport Minister Heidi Alexander, who is scheduled to speak this Wednesday in the House of Commons on a civil aviation bill.
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The disruption also drew criticism from airlines. Neal McMahon, Ryanair's chief operating officer, called for Rolfe's resignation on Times Radio after the company was forced to cancel 250 flights. McMahon stated that NATS informed them the problem was related to the flight plan processing system, the same one, he said, that was involved in a failure in 2023. The executive estimated that the economic impact on Ryanair "will run into the millions."
The crisis is strikingly reminiscent of the 2023 incident, which was considered at the time to be one of the worst failures of British air traffic control systems in years. More than 700,000 passengers were affected by delays and cancellations of some 2,000 flights following a long weekend.
British Airways, which had to reroute more than a hundred flights Tuesday afternoon, warned that the scale of the problem will have "significant repercussions" due to the limited availability of aircraft and crews. The airline estimated that tens of thousands of travelers were affected.
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Liverpool, Birmingham and Edinburgh were also affected, as was Dublin Airport in Ireland.
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