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The flights are beginning to reboot from UK airports after grounding and detouring technical issues on Wednesday before engineers can restore the system, the air traffic control operator said.
The airport said many planes and crews have fallen out of position and the confusion will take longer.
The National Air Traffic Service (NATS) said the glitch occurred at the control centre in Swanwick, southwest of London, and requested the service to limit the number of flights it has airplanes to ensure safety.
London’s Gatwick Airport said the issue had affected outbound flights across the UK.
Some inbound flights either retained or repurposed the pattern.
Stansted, another London Regional Airport, said “many departures and arrivals” had been affected and advised passengers to check with the airline.
Approximately 20 minutes after issuing the initial alert, the agent said the engineer had fixed the issue and was “in the process of restoring normal operations.”
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “I know of the technical issues that have affected Nats’ operations that caused travel disruption this afternoon.”
“I have now recovered the system, but continuous disruption is expected and passengers will need to check their advice with individual airports,” she said.
Since opening in 2002, the NATS system has suffered from several software-related failures.
In August 2023, Glitch meant that flight plans must be handled manually rather than automatically.
Hundreds of flights have been delayed or cancelled due to the height of summer vacation, affecting approximately 700,000 passengers.
Additional sources •AP
