Hundreds of flights to and from the UK are estimated to have been cancelled this bank holiday, leaving passengers stranded, after an air traffic control failure.

By Monday afternoon, 232 flights departing UK airports had been cancelled and 271 arriving flights, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

This equates to about 8% of all expected departures and 9% of expected arrivals, Cirium added.

The technical fault meant flight plans had to be input manually by controllers.

National Air Traffic Services, the country’s leading provider of air traffic control, said at 3.15pm that it had ‘identified and remedied’ the issue affecting its systems and was working with airlines and airports to support affected flights.

Major UK airlines such as Tui AG and International Consolidated Airlines Group SA-owned BA have warned of ‘significant delays’ for passengers amid changes to schedules.

And Heathrow Airport said flights will remain disrupted for the rest of Monday, despite the technical issue being resolved.

The Nats statement added: ‘We are now working closely with airlines and airports to manage the flights affected as efficiently as possible.

‘Our engineers will be carefully monitoring the system’s performance as we return to normal operations.

‘The flight planning issue affected the system’s ability to automatically process flight plans, meaning that flight plans had to be processed manually which cannot be done at the same volume, hence the requirement for traffic flow restrictions.

‘Our priority is always to ensure that every flight in the UK remains safe and we are sincerely sorry for the disruption this is causing. Please contact your airline for information on how this may affect your flight.’

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said ministers were working with Nats to ‘help them manage affected flights and support passengers’.

He tweeted: ‘The technical issue affecting @NATS has now been resolved.

‘Aviation Minister Charlotte Vere and I are continuing to work with NATS to help them manage affected flights and support passengers.

‘All passengers should still contact their airline for specific flight information.’

Home Secretary Suella Braverman sympathised with anyone affected.

She told broadcasters: ‘I am very cognisant that this will disrupt people’s travel plans – those who are waiting to arrive in the UK, those waiting to depart, and I do sympathise with any disruption they may be experiencing.’

source: PA

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