UK Air Traffic Control Glitch Disrupts 1,300 Flights; Air India Issues Advisory

New Delhi: A major technical glitch in Britain’s air traffic control system disrupted air travel across the United Kingdom on Tuesday, with around 1,300 flights cancelled and hundreds more delayed, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at major airports.

The disruption was triggered by a technical problem in the flight processing system of National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the UK’s air traffic control provider. The issue affected flights at several major airports, including London Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham, as well as airports in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

NATS initially said its engineers were working urgently to identify and fix the problem. It later announced that a fix had been implemented and that its systems were beginning to recover. However, the organisation warned that restoring normal operations would take time as airlines and airports dealt with the resulting backlog.

The disruption continued to affect passengers even after the technical fault was resolved. According to FlightRadar24, 1,300 flights to and from UK airports were cancelled on Tuesday, while another 177 flights scheduled for Wednesday had already been cancelled, with the majority of the latter at Heathrow.

Air India Flights Hit

The disruption also affected international carriers, including Air India, whose UK operations were impacted by the air traffic control failure.

Air India said several of its flights were forced to divert, delay or cancel because of the disruption. The airline apologised to passengers and advised travellers to check the latest status of their flights before heading to the airport.

One Air India service, AI131 operating from Mumbai to London, was diverted to Zurich amid the disruption at Heathrow.

The airline is working to manage the operational impact, including rearranging schedules and assisting passengers affected by cancellations, diversions and delays.

Heathrow Among Worst Hit

Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports, was among the worst affected. The airport initially said arriving flights were not affected but later confirmed that the technical issue was disrupting both arrivals and departures.

FlightRadar24 data showed that hundreds of flights at Heathrow were delayed, while Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham also recorded substantial disruption. The impact extended beyond Britain, with flights to and from other European airports also affected.

British Airways said it had been forced to cancel or divert more than 100 flights, affecting tens of thousands of passengers. Ryanair said more than 65,000 passengers had been disrupted and that it had cancelled more than 50 scheduled flights.

NATS Faces Fresh Scrutiny

The latest failure has renewed questions about the reliability of Britain's air traffic control infrastructure. Airlines have sharply criticised NATS following the disruption, with Ryanair calling for the resignation of NATS CEO Martin Rolfe, while Wizz Air demanded broader reforms to the system.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority has requested a full incident report from NATS and is expected to assess whether further measures are necessary to strengthen the resilience of the country's air traffic control system.

Passengers travelling through UK airports have been advised to check directly with their airlines for the latest flight information and to expect further delays or cancellations as the backlog is cleared.

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