Hundreds more flights have been cancelled to and from airports across the UK this morning after a major system issue affected air traffic control on Tuesday. Flight-monitoring website Flightradar24 shows around 1,300 flights were cancelled yesterday.
Today's cancellations appear to be impacting Heathrow the most, with the UK's busiest airport seeing 246 cancelled flights by 6am, while Gatwick has seen 33 cancellations. Between 7am and 8am, there are already 16 flights cancelled at Heathrow. Manchester Airport is showing two flights cancelled after 7am. From Glasgow, flights to Heathrow, Luton and Gatwick have been cancelled between 7am and 8am.
Travel expert warns of 'horrible' knock-on effects
Travel expert Simon Calder has warned the knock-on effects are "going to be horrible" today.
At least 177 flights scheduled to and from UK airports today have been cancelled, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24. The tracker said nearly all of those cancellations were at Heathrow as airlines continue to recover from yesterday's major NATS technical issue.
Meanwhile, Flightradar24's live disruption data at 7.52am currently shows eight flights cancelled at Heathrow, while a further 14 flights were delayed. At Gatwick, one flight is showing as cancelled at 7.52am, while four were delayed. The live figures are separate from the 177 flights already cancelled from today's schedules and will change as the morning progresses.
NATS boss to meet Transport Secretary
NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe is due to meet Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander this morning as the Government seeks answers over Tuesday's major air traffic control failure. The meeting is expected to examine how the technical problem caused such widespread disruption across the UK's aviation network.
Ahead of the meeting, Rolfe appeared on BBC Radio 4 this morning and said a cyber attack had been ruled out as the cause of the outage. He said: "We have, at this point, ruled out cyber." Rolfe also indicated that the cause could be different from previous incidents, with investigations continuing to establish exactly what went wrong. Alexander is expected to demand an explanation from the NATS boss over the failure and the subsequent disruption.
Airports update passengers
NATS warned around nine hours ago that it would take time for the UK's aviation network to recover. In an update, the UK's main air traffic control provider said work was continuing to help airlines and airports recover, describing the process as "very complex". It said the incident had "created difficulties for the whole aviation network, from which it will take time to recover".
Heathrow confirmed flights are operating, but airlines are having to reposition aircraft and crew in the aftermath of the disruption. Passengers have been urged to check their flight status with their airline before heading to Heathrow and to only travel to the airport if their flight is confirmed to be operating. Heathrow said extra staff are working across its terminals to support affected passengers as it works with NATS and airline partners to restore normal operations as quickly as possible.
Flights have now resumed from London Gatwick, but the airport has warned it will take time for operations to fully return to normal. In an update, the airport said: "Flights have now resumed from London Gatwick. However, we still anticipate that it will take time for our operations to fully return to normal." Passengers are being advised to continue checking directly with their airlines for the latest information about their flights.
Manchester Airport says it is operating as normal this morning following yesterday's NATS air traffic control issue. In an update issued at 7.30am, the airport said passengers travelling today should continue with their journey plans and check with their airline for the latest information about their flight. It added: "Thank you for your patience and understanding."
London Stansted Airport also says it is operating as normal this morning. In an update issued at 7.30am, the airport said passengers travelling today should continue with their journey plans but check with their airline for the latest information about their flight. It thanked passengers for their "patience and understanding" following yesterday's widespread disruption.
