TUI, easyJet, British Airways and Ryanair have warned holidaymakers flying to and from the UK that there could be more disruption after an issue with the NATS air traffic controlling system
TUI, easyJet, British Airways and Ryanair were just some of the airlines facing delays and cancellations this week due to an issue with the NATS air traffic controlling system on Monday – and they’ve warned passengers to expect more delays in the coming days.
The issue caused delays of nearly 12 hours for most airlines operating in the UK – and holidaymakers are being warned that the disruption could continue on for at least another day.
At the time, a British Airways pilot told the Mirror that aviation workers don’t know when it will be fixed.
They explained: “No one knows when it is going to get fixed. They’re having to manually process every flight plan, instead of the system doing it for them,” the BA pilot explained. “When you put a flight plan in for a flight it gets approved automatically, as long as it’s compliant with restrictions. Instead of system automatically approving it they all have to be processed. A person has to physically do that. It is a big backlog.”
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In a statement on Monday night Juliet Kennedy, Operations Director at NATS, confirmed that the issue had been fixed but warned holidaymakers that “it will take some time for flights to return to normal”.
TUI, which was forced to cancel “a small number” of holidays on Monday, has already warned its customers of potential delays spilling over today (Tuesday, 29th August). A travel alert on the company’s website explains: “Customers due to travel on holiday on 29th August. We are expecting some delays to our programme and will be in touch with customers directly should travel plans change. Customers travelling on Tuesday 29th August should travel to the airport as usual, unless contacted directly by TUI and told otherwise.
Meanwhile easyJet’s flight tracker shows a number of flight delays this morning to destinations such as France and Spain, although it’s not clear whether these are all linked to the air traffic disruption. If you’re due to travel, you can check information for your flight here.
At the time of writing, Ryanair hasn’t issued a new update since Monday when it warned travellers of possible delays and cancellations. When the Mirror took a look at a handful of Ryanair flights from Gatwick and Luton, those set to fly later today were currently predicted to be on time.
Heathrow Airport has also issued a warning for Brits on Twitter: “Due to yesterday’s technical issues suffered by UK Air Traffic Control, there may be some continuing disruption on some routes, including flight cancellations. (1/2
“It is important for all passengers to check the status of their flight with their airline before travelling to the airport and for those passengers who need to rebook to contact their airline directly rather than travelling to Heathrow. (2/2)”.
By Monday afternoon, 232 flights departing UK airports had been cancelled and 271 arriving flights, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. This equates to about 8% of all expected departures and 9% of expected arrivals, Cirium added.On Monday night, Juliet Kennedy, Operations Director at NATS, issued an apology for the disruption.
She said: “First of all, I’d like to apologise for the impact on people’s travel plans today. The issue we had earlier meant that our automatic system, which provides controllers with details of every aircraft and its route, wasn’t working. Instead, to manage safety, we had to limit the number of flights we could manage. Our teams worked hard to resolve the problem and I am pleased to say it was fixed earlier on this afternoon.
“However, it will take some time for flights to return to normal and we will continue to work with the airlines and the airports to recover the situation. Our absolute priority is safety and we will be investigating very thoroughly what happened today. Again, I would like to apologise for the impact on the travelling public and to tell you that our teams will continue to work to get you on your way as soon as we can.”