Flight chaos could stretch into weekend despite air traffic control fixing glitch that saw air space closed and planes grounded

Planes were left grounded on the runway at Heathrow due to the glitch (Picture: BBC)

13 December 2014

Chaos at UK airports could continue into the weekend after London's airspace shut down due to an air traffic control computer failure.

No flights were departing from London Stansted, London City or Gatwick airports this afternoon, while passengers at Heathrow reported being stuck in planes on the runway.

The outage at air traffic control management company NATS left thousands of passengers facing travel misery ahead of the weekend.

NATS later said airspace had reopened and that "the system has been restored to full operational capability."

It added that: "Although operational restrictions applied during the failure have been lifted, it will take time for flight operations across the UK to fully recover so passengers should contact their airline for the status of their flight. We apologise for the impact that this issue has had, and the delays and inconvenience caused."

An investigation into the failure is underway.

Budget flier easyJet said tonight: "EasyJet has had to cancel ten flights to and from London Gatwick, however all aircraft which were earlier diverted have all now continued to their original destinations. In addition, it is likely that other flights to and from the south of the UK will suffer delays this evening."

The airline said it had cancelled two Gatwick-bound flights scheduled for tomorrow.

Flights grounded at Gatwick Airport due to the glitch (Picture: Sky News)

Gatwick Airport said this evening: "Some cancellations should be expected and passengers are advised to contact their airline for the latest flight information."

At Heathrow, a spokesman said there had been 70 cancellations out of about 1,300 scheduled flights.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">BREAKING No take off at Heathrow for the moment due to computer issue. Watch live traffic: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=9&id=222025&p=http://t.co/wi8XdHpV3I" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2934896-http://t.co/wi8XdHpV3I" data-vars-event-id="c23">http://t.co/wi8XdHpV3I</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=9&id=222025&p=http://t.co/s6AIfrPil3" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2934896-http://t.co/s6AIfrPil3" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/s6AIfrPil3</a>— AirLive.net (@airlivenet) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/airlivenet/status/543428398677504001" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2934896-https://twitter.com/airlivenet/status/543428398677504001" data-vars-event-id="c23">December 12, 2014</a>

"The problem that we'll have this evening is that it'll take us a while to get through those flights that were scheduled to depart," he said.

The airport has extra staff on duty and will be open later than usual tonight to try to get stranded passengers in the air, he added.

Any further flight cancellations will be up to individual airlines.

In a statement on its website this evening British Airways said: "While the system is slowly recovering, we anticipate the knock-on effects to take some time to resolve. Additional staff have been brought in to assist our customers and we have booked a large number of hotel rooms to accommodate those who have been disrupted."

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin described the disruption as unacceptable.

He said: "Any disruption to our aviation system is a matter of the utmost concern, especially at this time of year in the run up to the holiday season.

"Disruption on this scale is simply unacceptable and I have asked Nats for a full explanation of this evening's incident. I also want to know what steps will be taken to prevent this happening again."

Flight radar tracking images showed dozens of plans backing up above London within minutes of the shut down.

Among those who reported being stranded earlier was DJ Deadmau5, who tweeted: "stuck at Heathrow. Air traffic shut down due to power failure. Working on a solution."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">Oh dear. Were at end of runway ready to take off when <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/heathrow?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2934896-https://twitter.com/hashtag/heathrow?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#heathrow</a> air traffic control systems go down. Now sitting going nowhere. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LHR?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2934896-https://twitter.com/hashtag/LHR?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#LHR</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/fail?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2934896-https://twitter.com/hashtag/fail?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#fail</a>— Paul Reynolds (@_PaulReynolds) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/_PaulReynolds/status/543425262286028800" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2934896-https://twitter.com/_PaulReynolds/status/543425262286028800" data-vars-event-id="c23">December 12, 2014</a>

Another passenger, Paul Reynolds, tweeted: "Oh dear. Were [sic] at end of runway ready to take off when Heathrow air traffic control systems go down. Now sitting going nowhere."

And one passenger added: "Stuck on a runway at Heathrow. NO one can take off."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/DiscoverMono" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2934896-https://twitter.com/DiscoverMono" data-vars-event-id="c23">@DiscoverMono</a> stuck at heathrow. Air traffic shut down due to power failure. Working on a solution— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/deadmau5/status/543430151439396864" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2934896-https://twitter.com/deadmau5/status/543430151439396864" data-vars-event-id="c23">December 12, 2014</a>

Passengers travelling into London from other airports in the UK also reported delays.

One tweeted: "Currently stuck at Newcastle Airport on the plane... On the runway being moved back to terminal due to happenings at Heathrow."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">Spending Friday afternoon with <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/gloucesterrugby" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2934896-https://twitter.com/gloucesterrugby" data-vars-event-id="c23">@gloucesterrugby</a> on the tarmac at Heathrow. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ComputersDown?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2934896-https://twitter.com/hashtag/ComputersDown?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#ComputersDown</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Delays?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2934896-https://twitter.com/hashtag/Delays?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#Delays</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=9&id=222025&p=http://t.co/utOGVWcAEA" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2934896-http://t.co/utOGVWcAEA" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/utOGVWcAEA</a>— Haimish Mead (@HaimishMead) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/HaimishMead/status/543429874078461952" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2934896-https://twitter.com/HaimishMead/status/543429874078461952" data-vars-event-id="c23">December 12, 2014</a>

The state-of-the art centre at Swanwick has been subject to a number of computer glitches since Nats moved there from its old headquarters in West Drayton in west London in the early part of the last decade.

One of the worst problems was a year ago - on Saturday December 7 2013 - when thousands of passengers were left stranded when hundreds of flights were grounded following a technical fault at the Hampshire centre.

Flight chaos could stretch into weekend despite air traffic control fixing glitch that saw air space closed and planes grounded

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