Scots passengers may face ‘knock-on disruption’ after air traffic control issueHundreds of flights were cancelled on Tuesday amid a technical problem at the National Air Traffic Service.Hundreds of flights were cancelled on Tuesday (Peter Byrne/PA)PA ArchiveLucinda Cameron3 minutes ago
Passengers in Scotland have been warned they may face some “knock-on disruption” after hundreds of flights around the UK were cancelled following a technical issue.
The National Air Traffic Service (Nats), which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports, was hit by a system issue on Tuesday.
According to flight monitoring website Flightradar24, 1,300 flights to and from UK airports were axed throughout the day and disruption continued on Wednesday.
Nats said the issue was resolved by 7.30pm on Tuesday and later in the evening said it had been a “very complex recovery” from which it will take time to recover.
Passengers have been advised to check with their airline (Andrew Milligan/PA)PA Archive
Airports in Scotland said passengers may still feel some impact from the situation on Wednesday and advised people to check with their airline for details.
A spokesman for Edinburgh Airport said: “While operations have returned to normal following the Nat technical issue, some knock-on disruption is expected to continue throughout today.
“We know this will be frustrating for passengers and would encourage them to check with their airline for the latest information on their flight.”
A spokesperson for AGS, which runs Aberdeen and Glasgow airports, said: “Following yesterday’s technical issue affecting Nats air traffic control, our airports’ operations are recovering.
“Flights continued to operate yesterday and today, but we are expecting ongoing disruption as aircraft and crew reposition.
“We advise passengers to check with their airline for the latest flight information and to only travel if they have a confirmed flight operating today.
“We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this Nats-related technical issue and will continue to provide support to our passengers.”
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe apologised for the issue.
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On the cause of the problem, Mr Rolfe said a “thorough” investigation would take place, but he ruled out a cyber attack.
He added: “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.
“Then our attention will turn to exactly what’s happened in this particular incident.
“What I will say is, I don’t believe we’ve ever seen an incident happen more than once, so this will be something different that we’ve never seen in 50 years of operation.”
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