Proactive Investors - Disruption to flights in and out of UK is set to last for days following an air traffic control technical fault on Monday.
After more than 1,500 flights were cancelled on Monday, transport secretary Mark Harper warned on BBC Radio 4 that further disruption was expected.
“It is going to take some days to get completely everybody back to where they should be,” he said.
“Airlines have a responsibility either to get people back on a flight to get them home or to pay for them to be accommodated and to sort out accommodation of them, and for food or drink as well.”
A flight planning system technical fault saw National Air Traffic Services (Nats) forced to turn to manual operations on Monday, prompting delays and cancellations to flights to and from the UK.
Though Nats said the issue has been identified and fixed by Monday afternoon, several hours of controllers having to input flight data manually saw the likes of British Airways (LON:ICAG), easyJet (LON:EZJ), Tui and Ryanair (LON:0RYA) all cancel flights.
“We are continuing to experience the knock-on effects of yesterday’s Nats air traffic control issue, which includes unavoidable delays and cancellations,” British Airways then said on Tuesday.
Heathrow, which experienced the highest number of cancellations, also warned of further delays on Tuesday.
Due to yesterday’s technical issues suffered by UK Air Traffic Control, there may be some continuing disruption on some routes, including flight cancellations. (1/2)— Heathrow Airport (@HeathrowAirport) August 29, 2023
“Schedules continue to be affected by yesterday’s restrictions on UK airspace,” an airport spokesperson commented.
“While the majority of passengers will still be able to travel, there will unfortunately be some disruption on some routes, including flight cancellations.”