Multiple UK airports affected, flights restricted over London due to technical issue at Air Traffic Control

Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands were among the airports where operations suffered to the technical issue with the Air Traffic Control.

Updated on: Jul 30, 2025, 22:43:23 IST

By HT News Desk

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A technical issue at the NATS Swanwick air traffic control centre led to flights being restricted from flying over London, and also affected operations are multiple airports in the United Kingdom, including Birminghum and Edinburgh on Wednesday.

A passenger plane flies over a road direction sign as it makes its landing approach to Heathrow Airport in west London. (REUTERS/File)

While the National Air Traffic Services in UK stated that the system has now been restored, delays are still being reported from across the country, BBC reported.

In an earlier statement from the ATC said that the controller was limiting the number of aircraft flying over London “in order to ensure safety”.

The issue was detected at the NATS Swanwick ATC, and has impacted all outbound UK flights. Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh and Birmingham are among airports where flights are facing delays, according to BBC.

The NATS initially said that the engineers were “working hard to resolve” the technical issue, eventually stating that the problem had been restored. However, the ATC stated that the delays in flight schedules will continue.

“We continue to work closely with airline and airport customers to minimise disruption,” the NATS ATC said in the latest update.

Earlier, the Heathrow airport had said that all departures had been paused, but flights were later resumed. The Gatwick airport also stated that while flight operations had begun, there might be delays.

Meanwhile, the Newcastle airport is the latest to suspend all departures, saying that an update would be provided “in due course”.

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HT News Desk
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