Flight delay warning from Loganair amid 'nation-wide failure' of air traffic systems

UK air traffic control systems have been hit by a network-wide failure, with airlines warning flights may be delayed.

NATS, the country’s national air traffic controllers, said flight plans are being entered into their system manually while engineers work to resolve the issue in an updated statement.

It said: “This morning’s technical issue is affecting our ability to automatically process flight plans.

“Until our engineers have resolved this, flight plans are being input manually which means we cannot process them at the same volume, hence we have applied traffic flow restrictions.

“Our technical experts are looking at all possible solutions to rectify this as quickly as possible.

“Our priority is ensuring every flight in the UK remains safe and doing everything we can to minimise the impact.

“Please contact your airline for information on how this may affect your flight. We are sincerely sorry for the disruption this is causing.”

An earlier statement from easyJet to passengers said they have been “advised of an Air traffic control issue currently affecting all flights due to fly into or out of United Kingdom airspace.”

Those waiting to depart at airports are being advised to keep checking information updates at the terminal, which those on grounded flights will be updated by crew members.

One traveller, who flew to Belfast from Glasgow on Thursday, told STV News her flight back on Monday had been delayed by eight hours.

“We had to check out of our apartment at 10am this morning, only to see our flight was delayed until 2.30am,” Jade Heavey said.

“It went back to 8.45pm but is now at 1.45am. Getting home at this time means my friend will have to drive home for work up the A9 in the middle of the night and there’s possibilities that my other friend won’t be able to get a bus at that time as she lives in the countryside.”

Ms Heavey said the group have been left upset and uncertain by the situation.

Flights that were already in the air at the time of the outage have reportedly been diverted to other countries, such as France.

Edinburgh Airport said the “developing situation” was affecting some flights across the network, and advised travellers to check with their airlines for further information.

Loganair warned customers on X, formally known as Twitter, that its flights could be subject to delays due to the outage.

In a statement, the Glasgow-based airline said: “There has been a network-wide failure of UK air traffic control computer systems this morning.

“Although we are hopeful of being able to operate most intra-Scotland flights on the basis of local co-ordination and with a minimum of disruption, north-south and international flights maybe subject to delays.

“If you are flying with us today, please check our website for the latest information about your flight before setting off for the airport.”

A spokesperson for Edinburgh Airport said: “This is a developing situation affecting some flights across the UK network. Passengers should check with their airline for any information on their flight.

“We are continuing to monitor the situation and we will provide further updates when we can.”

More to follow.