UK Air Traffic Failure Grounds Outbound Flights

A major technical issue at the NATS Swanwick air traffic control centre on Wednesday caused widespread flight disruptions in the UK, grounding departures at major airports such as Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh, and Manchester. Passengers were stranded on tarmacs or diverted, with some flights forced to circle or land in other European cities during the temporary closure of London's airspace. British Airways and other airlines reported that the vast majority of their flights were affected, impacting thousands of travelers. NATS engineers have now restored the affected system, and normal operations are gradually resuming, but delays are expected as airports address backlogs. The incident is similar to a 2023 outage at Swanwick that disrupted travel for over 700,000 passengers. Authorities continue to advise travelers to check with airlines for the latest updates as the situation stabilizes.