As many as 80 per cent of flights leaving the United Kingdom were postponed following a massive failure of the national air traffic control system, causing confusion for tens of thousands of holidaymakers on one of the busiest days of the year.
Britain’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said it was experiencing technical issues that had forced controllers to switch from an automatic system for landing and dispatching flights to a manual one.
They said that flight plans were being input manually which meant that they couldn’t process them at the same volume, hence they had to apply traffic flow restrictions, and a spokesman told a newspaper outlet that there was nothing to suggest a cyber attack.
The majority (78 per cent) of flights leaving Heathrow are presently delayed according to Flight Radar data from 1.45 pm, compared to 74 per cent at Gatwick, 81 per cent at Manchester and 86 per cent at Bristol.
According to an analysis carried out by Cirium, 232 flights have been cancelled departing UK airports so far, equivalent to around 8 per cent of all departures.
Meanwhile, 271 flights have been cancelled coming into UK airports so far, equivalent to about 9 per cent of all arrivals.
Britons returning from Tenerife told a newspaper outlet they’d been told to expect a wait of at least 12 hours.
Michele Robson, who used to work in air traffic control, said that it was unusual for failures to last this long. As a result, nobody really knows at this point how long it’s going to take.
Travel expert Simon Calder said the issue would cause misery but added that holidaymakers should assume their flight was operating normally unless they were told otherwise.
Contagion from the issue has already dispersed across Europe, causing delays for some flights departing the Continent for the USA.
TV presenter Gabby Logan said she’s been left stranded on the runway at Budapest Airport while returning from the World Athletics Championships. She wrote that after almost 3 weeks away from home she was hours from hugging her family, and had been told that UK airspace was shut and that they could be there for 12 hours and that they had to sit on the plane and wait.
NATS didn’t supply any additional details about what had caused it or how long it would take for UK airspace to return to normal.
The more I read these reports, the more I wonder about people, particularly ones with children, dragging them off abroad to all kinds of harsh travel. Why doesn’t everybody holiday at home in the United Kingdom? Then they can put some money back into the economy and appreciate the beauty that’s all over our own country.
Next, they’ll be telling you that digital ID, passports and a cashless society are the answer, but clearly, it’s not.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 