A technical failure has brought at least 10 British airports to their knees. The National Air Traffic Services (Nats) announced that a malfunction of the air traffic control services triggered the disruption. The technicians are at work, but there are hundreds of flights stopped and thousands of passengers on the ground.
The inconveniences
Thanks to Flightradar24 it is possible to follow the situation over British skies. At least 10 airports would be affected by the technical failure. By pointing the cursor at London Heathrow and Gatwick airports you can see the aircraft stopped on the runways. The same thing happens in Manchester and is repeated in the other London airports of Stansted and City Airport and in those scattered across the country: Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Nottingham East Midlands, Birmingham, Bristol. According to Flightradar24, more than 300 flights were cancelled.
Ryanair’s note
The low-cost airline Ryanair has announced that over 65 thousand of its passengers are affected by the problem which has affected flights departing from the United Kingdom. The carrier has announced it will cancel more than 50 scheduled flights. On its website, the company added that affected passengers will be informed and urged anyone traveling to and from the UK to check the Ryanair app for the latest updates on their flight.
The controversies
“A provider of critical national infrastructure should not repeatedly block the aviation system. Nats, in its current form, is simply not up to the task,” Wizz air said in a statement. The airline said it was “extremely disappointed” that a new technical fault at Nats had caused serious inconvenience to travellers, adding that urgent reform was needed. Even more serious are the accusations from Ryanair, which defined the head of National Air Traffic Services as an “overpaid failure” and officially asked for his resignation.