UK flight delays: disruption at airports in London area – live updates

Edinburgh Airport just confirmed its departures have also resumed, but added that the disruption “will take time to work through”.

More flights are now taking off from airports that previously reported being affected by the disruption, with American Airlines’ AAL137 to Los Angeles departing with a delay of just over two hours from London Heathrow just moments ago.

UK Civil Aviation Authority is actively directing passengers to its guidance for passengers affected by delays, saying “remember that you have passenger rights if this happens.”

London Gatwick airport has now reported that the issue impacting outbound flights “has now been resolved,” but warned that “there are some delays at London Gatwick while operations resume.”

Flightradar24 data is now showing first flights departing from airports that previously reported disruptions, with British Airways SHT8W flight from London Heathrow Airport to Edinburgh taking off a moment ago, with about 55 minutes delay.

Back in 2023, a previous glitch affecting Nats, the company that provides national air traffic control services in the UK, meant the system was out of action for several hours causing disruption to more than 700,000 passengers.

Here is what we know about what happened in 2023:

There was also a similar outage at Nats national centre in Swanwick, Hampshire in 2014, that resulted in dozens of flights being cancelled and delayed.

The scale of the disruption caused by the outage is yet to become clear, but it’s worth remembering that this is happening during what is a very busy summer period, and so could have knock on effects on what is usually an already very tight flight schedule.

We now have a further update from Nats, saying it has restored the system affected by the outage and will work with airlines to minimise disruption caused.

Here is their statement:

“Our engineers have now restored the system that was affected this afternoon. We are in the process of resuming normal operations in the London area.

We continue to work closely with airline and airport customers to minimise disruption. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.”

Edinburgh Airport has now reported being affected by the technical outage too.

In a post on X, it said:

“Due to a technical issue impacting NATS, all departures from Edinburgh Airport are currently being held. We are waiting for further information from NATS and will provide updates when possible. Please check with your airline for the latest information on your flight.”

Flightradar24 tracking service reported earlier that “as per Eurocontrol, technical issues have closed the London CTA, affecting flights across the southern UK.”

UK flights in the London area are affected by delays after Nats, the UK air traffic control authority, said it was restricting flights due to a “technical issue” at NATS Swanwick air traffic control centre “in order to ensure safety, which is always our first priority.”

In a statement on social media, it added:

“Our engineers are working hard to resolve the problem as quickly as possible and we are working closely with airlines to help minimise disruption.

At this stage we cannot say how long it will be before operations are back to normal.”

Gatwick Airport reported impact on all outbound flights across the UK, while London City Airport said “flights in and out of London airports - including London City Airport - might be delayed or subject to cancellation.”