UK flights disrupted after second air traffic control glitch in month

Irish budget carrier Ryanair has called on NATS CEO Martin Rolfe to resign following the latest issue, which has impacted flights across the UK and Ireland.

Passengers travelling to and from the UK on Monday were faced with delays and cancellations to flights after air traffic control systems suffered a “technical issue” for the second time this month.

Air traffic control operator NATS announced that it had discovered a “connectivity issue with part of our systems network” at its Prestwick centre in Scotland early on Monday morning, adding that it had “nothing to do with the problem we had earlier this month.”

NATS said at around 11 am local time that the issue had been “fixed” and that it was working with airlines and airports to remove air traffic restrictions.

“We apologise to passengers for the disruption and thank them for their patience,” it added in a post on social media.

Data from flight-tracking site Flightradar24 shows “major problems” at Scotland’s Edinburgh and Glasgow airports as well as Newcastle airport in northeastern England on Monday. Flights have also been disrupted at Manchester, Birmingham, Belfast, London Luton, and London Gatwick airports, as well as Dublin airport in Ireland.

In a statement, Glasgow airport warned that delays and disruption could continue despite the fix “due to the knock-on impact across the network.”

Manchester airport added that operations were “returning to normal” but also said further disruption was possible.

Airports are advising passengers to check with airlines for the latest updates before travelling.

Earlier this month, airports across the UK and Ireland were hit with severe disruption after NATS reported a problem with its flight processing system.

In a statement at the time, NATS described it as a “very complex recovery” that had “created difficulties for the whole aviation network, from which it will take time to recover.”

UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said then that she was “seeking assurances that lessons will be learned and systems that support aviation are up to the job.”

On Monday, Irish budget carrier Ryanair called on NATS CEO Martin Rolfe to resign following the latest glitch.

“UK passengers cannot continue to suffer repeated disruption because of system failures, inadequate back-up procedures and failed management,” the airline said in a statement on its website.

Source: www.euronews.com