Flights across the UK and Ireland are slowly getting back on track after a technical failure at the UK’s air traffic control provider triggered mass cancellations — but aviation bosses warn travellers may feel the aftershocks for days.
The head of the UK’s air traffic control provider has ruled out a cyber attack as the cause of technical issues which grounded flights yesterday.
Airlines in the UK are continuing to deal with the knock-on impacts with some disruption expected to affect airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted.
Fight schedules are also returning to normal in Ireland following disruption to dozens of incoming and outgoing flights at Cork, Dublin and Shannon airports yesterday.
Around 90 flights to and from Dublin Airport were cancelled yesterday due to the issue.
The UK’s air traffic control provider, NATS, said the problem has since been resolved.
NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe is due to speak to Britain’s Transport Secretary regarding the technical issue.
He said there will be a “very, very thorough investigation” into the technical problem that has caused widespread disruption to flights but “ruled out” a cyber attack as the cause.
Mr Rolfe apologised for the widespread disruption but added that the issue was “resolved as quickly as it could be, but within the limits of making sure that it all stayed safe”.
People impacted by the flight disruption sleep on the floor in Gatwick Airport
In an interview on BBC Radio 4, Mr Rolfe said the immediate priority was restoring normal operations — a step he said has now been achieved — while airlines and airports grapple with the backlog created by the stoppage.
“My focus and that of the team has been on both getting our system operating back up normally, which it is now, but there’s obviously a huge tail to the disruption and we’ll be working on that through the course of today.
“And then our attention will turn to exactly what’s happened in this particular incident.
“What I will say is I don’t believe we’ve ever seen an incident happen more than once, so this will be something different that we’ve never seen in 50 years of operation.”
Asked whether he was considering his position after the incident, Mr Rolfe said he “always accept(s) full responsibility”.
Flight monitoring website Flightradar24 said 1,300 flights had been cancelled to and from UK airports yesterday after a system issue hit NATS, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports.
According to FlightRadar, 246 flights had been cancelled at Heathrow Airport by 6am this morning, while Gatwick passengers faced 33 cancellations.
Tens of thousands of passengers were caught up in the chaos yesterday.
Passengers seen at Heathrow Airport in London
Dublin Airport said it expected close to a full schedule of flights to operate today but that the potential for some delays remained because of a knock-on effect from the disruption yesterday. Intending passengers are advised to check their airline’s website for updates.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Graeme McQueen, media relations manager at daa, described yesterday as challenging and warned that there is the potential for knock-on impacts elsewhere on the network in the UK and Europe.
He advised passengers to “stay close to their airlines’ apps and websites” and check their emails.
“We are expecting pretty much a full schedule today.
Listen: Graeme McQueen of daa gives advice to passengers travelling
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“The airlines here, Ryanair, Emerald, and Air Lingus worked very hard to get all their planes back in position for this morning’s busy first wave, which is taking off as normal at the moment. But there is that potential for disruption on the network,” he said.
He said many stranded passengers ended up spending the night in the terminal, with staff distributing blankets and bottles of water, and that a sizable number of people were still at the airport.
Aer Lingus cancelled one flight to Malaga but passengers have been reaccommodated on a bigger plane later this afternoon, he added.
Passengers waiting at Gatwick Airport’s south terminal after the cancellations
“We’re still in that sort of end of summer period where it is busy do a lot of people were hanging around, but teams are working very, very hard today again to reaccommodate them,” he said.
Cork Airport said that all flight operations have returned to normal this morning after nine flights were cancelled yesterday.
A spokesperson confirmed that the cancelled flights were five inbound flights and four outbound flights.
“Normal operations are expected at Cork Airport throughout the day. Passengers intending to travel today are advised to refer to their airline’s website or mobile app for the latest and most up to date flight information,” they said.
A spokesperson for Shannon Airport said that the vast majority of scheduled services were operating as planned.
“Yesterday’s disruption impacted a number of flights to and from Shannon Airport, including Ryanair flight FR3258 from Shannon to Birmingham, Aer Lingus flights EI386 and EI388 from Shannon to London Heathrow, and Ryanair services FR2303 and FR2304 to and from Faro. While normal operations have resumed across the network today, Aer Lingus services EI380 and EI381 to and from London Heathrow were cancelled this morning as schedules recovered,” they said.
Travel journalist Simon Calder said the knock-on effects today are “going to be horrible”.
He told Sky News: “There are going to be dozens of cancellations in the morning of flights coming into Heathrow because, basically, the flights didn’t go out tonight.”
Ryanair cancelled 260 flights, leading to an immediate loss of £2.5 million to £3 million (€1.9-3.4 million), its CEO Michael O’Leary told Reuters.
“We’re looking at probably (losses of) five, six million or something,” Mr O’Leary said, adding that they expected 30 more flights to be cancelled today as crews are in the wrong places and working the wrong hours.
British Airways (BA) said it was forced to cancel or divert more than 100 flights yesterday which had impacted “tens of thousands of customers”.
UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is set to speak with NATS Chief Executive Officer
Ryanair COO calls on NATS head to resign
Mr Rolfe has faced criticism from Wizz Air and Ryanair following the latest breakdown, which left some passengers stuck on aircraft on runways for hours.
Ryanair’s Chief Operating Officer Neal McMahon called on Mr Rolfe to step down.
He said: “How many more failures do passengers have to suffer before overpaid failure NATS CEO Martin Rolfe accepts responsibility for his repeated mismanagement and resigns?
“Over three years after NATS’ catastrophic 2023 system meltdown, it’s clear that nothing has changed, with UK passengers once again suffering avoidable ATC (air traffic control) delays of up to eight hours today due a critical NATS ATC system failing.”
Read more: Ryanair, Wizz Air call for NATS overhaul after UK flight disruption
Among the thousands caught up in yesterday’s disruption was Josie Donoghue, who said she was taken off a flight to Ireland after sitting on the runway at Gatwick for three hours.
Ms Donoghue said getting through the airport “was like trying to get out of Alcatraz”.
“We were trapped in there. We were told we couldn’t get out until the flights were cancelled, and then eventually they allowed us to get out,” she said.
“It’s just an absolute nightmare down there, it’s the only word I can use to describe it,” she added.
Additional reporting by Reuters
