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19h ago

UK Air Traffic Control Fault Halts Departures at Heathrow and Gatwick

Technicians report the flight‑processing fault has been identified and repair work is under way

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Los aeropuertos de Heathrow, Stansted y City estuvieron entre los afectados por el desperfecto técnico.
La agencia NATS informó que sus ingenieros trabajaban para solucionar el problema técnico.
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Overview

  • A technical fault in NATS’s flight‑processing system forced the suspension of scheduled departures at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick earlier on Tuesday, producing widespread delays.
  • Third‑party flight monitors reported large disruption, with cancellation estimates ranging from about 200 to roughly 425 flights and FlightRadar24 placing Heathrow at about 68 cancelled departures and Gatwick at about 25.
  • NATS said engineers were on site investigating the systems fault and providing updates while Transport Minister Heidi Alexander said technicians had identified the issue and were fixing it.
  • NATS stressed UK airspace was not closed and airports urged passengers to check with their airlines before travelling to terminals as carriers began offering rebooking, refunds, or assistance.
  • The fault underscores how NATS’s centralised flight‑processing service — which serves 15 UK airports — can cascade into large network disruption and could slow recovery of schedules over the next hours as controllers and airlines rework timetables.