The air traffc issue has been fixed but the travel plans of tens of thousands acros the UK are still being disrupted
Around 2,000 flights have been cancelled across the UK following a major issue with air traffic control systems(Image: Copyright Unknown)
Passengers flying from Bristol and Cardiff airports are facing delays this evening, with holiday routes among those affected. Around 2,000 flights have been cancelled across the UK following a major issue with air traffic control systems on Tuesday, disrupting tens of thousands of passengers after air traffic control systems failed.
NATS, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports, said in a statement that recovery had “taken longer than we had hoped” after a technical issue in its “flight processing system” caused the disruption.
Flights were cancelled on Tuesday at Airports including Bristol, Cardiff, Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh and Stansted. The delays are continuing on Wednesday with around 13 journeys severely delayed this evening alone.
Here is the full list of flights showing delays or revised departure times from the information available:
Bristol Airport
- Ryanair FR5517 – Krakow: scheduled 3.55pm, delayed to 6.10pm
- Jet2 LS1899 – Palma: scheduled 5.45pm, delayed to 6.45pm
- easyJet EZY2707 – Madrid: scheduled 6.35pm, delayed to 7.15pm
- Ryanair FR8264 – Ibiza: scheduled 6.50pm, delayed to 8.55pm
- easyJet EZY2873 – Faro: scheduled 7pm, delayed to 8.25pm
- easyJet EZY2711 – Palma: scheduled 7.30pm, delayed to 8.05pm
- easyJet EZY219 – Edinburgh: scheduled 8pm, delayed to 9.10pm
- Aer Lingus EI3289 – Dublin: scheduled 8.25pm, estimated 9.05pm
- easyJet Europe EJU7028 – Malaga: scheduled 8.45pm, delayed to 8.55pm
- Ryanair FR9174 – Barcelona: scheduled 9.35pm, delayed to 9.50pm
Other Bristol flights were listed without a revised time and may still be subject to disruption:
- easyJet EZY2933 – Berlin: scheduled 6.25pm
- easyJet EZY2705 – Barcelona: scheduled 6.40pm
- easyJet Switzerland EZS1410 – Geneva: scheduled 7.25pm
- easyJet EZY229 – Belfast International: scheduled 8.05pm
- easyJet EZY209 – Glasgow: scheduled 8.15pm
- Ryanair FR509 – Dublin: scheduled 8.20pm
- easyJet Europe EJU7268 – Palma: scheduled 9.10pm
Cardiff Airport
- TUI TOM560 – Dalaman: scheduled 4.25pm, delayed to 6.20pm
- TUI TOM6382 – Rhodes: scheduled 2.15pm, expected 5.05pm
- KLM KL1092 – Amsterdam: scheduled 5.15pm, expected 5.45pm
Passengers are advised to check the latest information with their airline and airport before travelling, as departure times and statuses can change.
The boss of an air traffic control provider said he “always” accepts “full responsibility” after a technical issue caused huge disruption to flights.
Nats, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports, said in a statement that recovery had “taken longer than we had hoped”, but that its “system issue” on Tuesday had been resolved by 7.30pm as thousands of passengers continued to face cancellations and delays.
Asked on Sky News whether he accepted responsibility for the incident which caused chaos for many passengers, with flight monitoring website Flightradar24 saying more than 1,000 flights had been cancelled at UK airports by about 8pm, Nats’ chief executive officer Martin Rolfe said “I always accept full responsibility”.
He said: “I am the CEO of a piece of critical infrastructure, so it is my job to take responsibility for that.
“What I absolutely take responsibility for is keeping people safe and delivering the best service we possibly can on a day like today.
“You will understand my focus is entirely about how we actually resolve this issue, get things back to normal, help our airlines, our airport customers and the travelling public.”
Mr Rolfe has been under fire from Wizz Air and Ryanair after the latest issue which saw some passengers trapped on planes on runways for hours.
Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers had been disrupted and it had cancelled more than 50 scheduled flights.
British Airways (BA) said it was forced to cancel or divert more than 100 flights on Tuesday which had impacted “tens of thousands of customers”.
Neal McMahon, Ryanair’s chief operating officer, called on Mr Rolfe to resign, saying: “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.”
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is set to speak with Mr Rolfe on Wednesday before she addresses MPs in the Commons for the second reading of the Civil Aviation Bill.
Mr Rolfe said airlines would be able to provide the best information on how long the ongoing impact would take to resolve.
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