A technical failure in UK’s air traffic control system forced the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights over two days, disrupting operations at 15 airports including Heathrow and stranding passengers on Indian carriers’ London routes.
Delays ran into a second day on Wednesday as airlines rebooked passengers and repositioned aircraft left at the wrong airports.
On Wednesday, 291 flights — 120 departures and 171 arrivals — were cancelled at UK airports, about 5% of the 5,869 scheduled, aviation analytics company Cirium said. Cancellations on a normal day run between 1% and 2%. Tuesday was worse, with about 30.1% of 5,800 scheduled flights cancelled or not operated.
Deep Dive
What caused the cancellation of over 2,000 flights in the UK?
How did the UK air traffic glitch impact flights from India?
Why are airlines calling for the resignation of NATS' chief executive?
Seven of the 24 flights scheduled from India to the UK had been cancelled as of 4pm on Wednesday, Cirium said. IndiGo’s Mumbai-London service 6E001 was diverted to Amsterdam on Tuesday and its Delhi-London flight 6E003 to Paris; both were cancelled on Wednesday. Air India’s four London flights were diverted on Tuesday and cancelled the following day.
Rajya Sabha MP Milind Deora, a passenger on the Mumbai flight, said he had spent nearly 24 hours stranded at Amsterdam airport. “Basically, we are technically in transit because the flight got diverted, so the airline can’t really offload one passenger’s bag,” he said. A public transport strike in the Netherlands had also ruled out taking a train to London, he said.
{{/usCountry}}Rajya Sabha MP Milind Deora, a passenger on the Mumbai flight, said he had spent nearly 24 hours stranded at Amsterdam airport. “Basically, we are technically in transit because the flight got diverted, so the airline can’t really offload one passenger’s bag,” he said. A public transport strike in the Netherlands had also ruled out taking a train to London, he said.
{{/usCountry}}Pooja Arya, a Delhi resident travelling to New York via London for a family wedding, said her British Airways flight landed in London on Tuesday afternoon but remained on the tarmac for several hours.
“We landed in London on Tuesday around 3pm and we were on the tarmac till 8pm. The airline took us out of the plane by around 9pm. There were a huge number of people at the airport. The immigration line was almost a kilometre long. It has been exhausting and mentally, physically and emotionally also because we are heading to the US for a wedding, a family wedding. First weddings in the family of a grandchild, so you can imagine how excited we all were but everything has been dampened by this fiasco.”
Arya said she and other passengers struggled to get information and accommodation after the disruption.
“The airline has been absolutely useless for us in the sense that, no one knows what is happening, they did not know what was happening on Tuesday and today. We slept on the floor like someone would sleep at a railway station because there was no other option. They did have hotel accommodations but probably they gave it to people who came in first. Since our flight was very late, we didn't get that option at all. So we were told that we could take up a hotel, stay there and the money would be reimbursed, we could eat and everything would be reimbursed. But for everything they ask to go to their app but their app is not friendly at all. The airport is still pretty full but still better..after a lot of effort, we have been put on the flight for Thursday at 1.30pm”
NATS, which operates the UK system, attributed the disruption to a problem in its flight processing system and said the original fault was resolved on Tuesday afternoon.
Airlines demanded that NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe consider resigning after the second air traffic breakdown in three years. Transport secretary Heidi Alexander met Rolfe on Wednesday and gave him a week to complete a full investigation. The government, which owns 49% of NATS, said Rolfe retains its confidence.
Rolfe apologised for the disruption but said the UK system remains among the world’s safest and most efficient.