Picture: AFP PicOdd/Andersen Source: AFP
A technical glitch shut down the skies virtually over the whole of the UK with hundreds of flights delayed or cancelled as technicians worked to rectify the problem at central air traffic control.
The drama began shortly after 6am local time with Stansted and Gatwick airports in London reporting minor delays. National Air Traffic Services (NATS) cited an issue with the control centre at Swanwick, Hampshire in the south of England which covers airspace across England up to south Scotland.
"There are restrictions on the air space and the flow of aircraft," a Stansted spokesman said.
But within an hour the knock-on effect from what were just 30-minute delays began to affect other hubs including Manchester, Luton and London City Airport, Dublin Airport in Ireland, Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, before it hit the busiest hub in the world, Heathrow, forcing dozens of national and international flights to be cancelled.
Air space and the flow of air traffic had to be significantly curtailed with aircraft unable to leave their berths to make way for aircraft wanting to land.
That left passengers stranded on aircraft on the tarmac unable to take off from many airports for up to two hours.
NATS said engineers were working to rectify the problem which apparently stemmed from being unable to switch the central traffic control system from a night time to a day time operations.
Authorities were forced to stop or delay aircraft entering British flight space with overcrowding. The knock-on effect was expected to last all day. Disruption at Heathrow was particularly exaggerated since it runs virtually at 100 per cent capacity on a normal day and the slightest hiccup causes knock-on chaos.
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