UK travellers brace themselves for a second day of misery as the air traffic control issue is set to cause more flight cancellations.
Tuesday marked a difficult day for the aviation industry and passengers as a technical issue grounded hundreds of planes across major airports.
The havoc stemmed from a flight processing system glitch affecting Nats, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports.
Rumours began to swirl that the issue could have been caused by a malicious attack, however Nats has this morning ruled out any cyber attack links.
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Nats CEO Martin Rolfe, who has come under fire after the system issue, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We have at this point ruled out cyber, we don’t believe it was a cyber attack.
‘My focus and that of the team has been on both getting our system operating back up normally, which it is now, but there’s obviously a huge tail to the disruption and we’ll be working on that through the course of today.’
He said the unprecedented incident was ‘different that we’ve never seen in 50 years of operation.’
Passengers trying to reach holidays and weddings waited hours on stranded aircraft, only to be told to come back in the morning. Some spent their nights on the cold airport floors and seats.
Although the glitch itself has been fixed, the knock-on impact will continue to hamper flights as aircraft and crew have been left misplaced overnight.
So far today, 177 flights have been cancelled, mostly at Heathrow Airport, according to tracking website Flightradar24.
What flights are cancelled at Heathrow Airport?
Several departing flights are listed as cancelled on Flightradar24 this morning.
The following British Airways flights have been axed:
- 8.50am to Newcastle
- 9.20am to Belfast
- 9.25am to Milan
- 9.35am to Palma de Mallorca
- 9.45am to Gothenburg
- 10am to Barcelona
- 10.10am to Lyon
- 10.10am to Naples
- 10.10 to Bucharest
- 10.15am to Milan
- 10.10am to Milan
- 10.35am to Budapest
- 10.45am to Paris
- 11am to Gibraltar
- 11.25am to Nice
- 11.45am to Glasgow
- 11.55am to Milan
- 11.50am to Venice
At Gatwick, most morning flights are listed to depart, but several with delays. An easyJet flight to Nice at 8.30am was listed as cancelled, according to Flightradar24.
Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton said flights are operating today but some disruption might continue, and people should check with their airline.
Tens of thousands of passengers were affected yesterday, with Ryanair alone reporting that more than 65,000 of its passengers were caught up.
Those lucky enough not to be stranded on an aircraft reported issues and delays with receiving their luggage.
Rolfe was summoned to meet with the Transport Secretary today.
Speaking to Sky News, he said he accepts ‘full responsibility,’ but refused to answer whether he was considering his position after the glitch.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander will face the Commons after speaking with Rolfe for the second reading of the Civil Aviation Bill.
Ryanair’s chief operating officer, Neal McMahon, called on Rolfe to resign, calling him an ‘overpaid failure’ CEO.
McMahon said: ‘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.’
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has weighed in on the row, saying the incident is ‘unacceptable’ as he apologised to affected passengers.
‘This is frankly unacceptable. It was a problem at the National Air Traffic Service, but we can’t have this happen again,’ he said.
British former racing driver Martin Brundle said he was stranded on a planeto ‘nowhere’ at Heathrow for ‘nine hours and counting.’
He said on social media: ‘At a remote parking bay, no food throughout, and mother/baby and a person with a medical condition desperate to get off. As is everyone else. Toilets no longer available as blocked. No sign of steps or buses. And that’s before the wait for luggage.’
Josie Donogue had to disembark her flight to Ireland after spending three hours on the runway.
She said: ‘Getting through that airport was like trying to get out of Alcatraz. We were trapped in there. We were told we couldn’t get out until the flights were cancelled, and then eventually they allowed us to get out.
‘It’s just an absolute nightmare down there, it’s the only word I can use to describe it.’
One passenger on a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Heathrow said the flight was diverted to Stansted instead. Passengers sat on the tarmac for four hours before the plane was forced to return to Finland.
Nats said in its latest update on Tuesday evening: ‘Work is continuing to assist airlines and airports recover from today’s disruption.
‘This has been a very complex recovery and has created difficulties for the whole aviation network, from which it will take time to recover.
‘We apologise again for the disruption caused. Passengers should check with their airline on the status of their flight tonight or tomorrow.’
Aviation analytics firm Cirium said more than 1,750 arriving and departing UK flights out of 5,800 were cancelled yesterday.
What are your rights if the flight is delayed or cancelled?
In the UK and EU, airlines must look after you if your flight is delayed or cancelled. This includes everything from meals and accommodation to an alternative flight if necessary.
that airlines should also give impacted passengers access to phone calls and emails, and, if they offer you a place to stay, organise the journeys between the hotel and the airport.
Sometimes, the airline will cover this by handing you vouchers at the airport. When in doubt, keep any receipts for expenses and claim them back afterwards from the airline.
But an airline will only cough up money for ‘reasonable’ expenses.
If you didn’t book with a UK or EU airline, you’ll need to check their terms and conditions. However, for the most part, airlines should provide meals and accommodation as appropriate.
When am I eligible for this support?
Whether you’re eligible for the above depends on the distance of your flight and how long you have waited:
- For medium-haul (between 1,500km and 3,500km over two to four hours), it’s three hours or more.
- For long-haul (more than 3,500km over four hours or more), it’s four hours or more.
- For short-haul (up to 1,500km over two hours or less), you must have been waiting for two hours or more.
What about compensation?
The bad news is that if your flight was cancelled or delayed due to the air traffic control issue, you are unlikely to be owed compensation from the airline.
This is because of the force majeure or exceptional circumstances rule as the disruption was out of the airline’s control.
Have you been affected? Please email webnews@metro.co.uk
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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