More than 600 flights canceled in the United Kingdom due to a breakdown in air control

More than 600 flights have been canceled this Tuesday in the United Kingdom due to a breakdown in the system that processes NATS flight plans, the private provider that manages the country's air control. The problem has mainly affected departures at Heathrow airport, the largest in the country, west of London, where there have been a hundred cancellations and another 367 flights have suffered delays.

In Gatwick, south of the British capital, 250 have suffered delays, more than 30% of planned operations, according to data from the Flightradar24 tracking platform. Incidents have also been recorded in Stansted and Luton (both in London), as well as in the airports of Manchester and Birmingham, in England; Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, in Scotland; and Dublin, in Ireland.

NATS assures that British airspace has remained open and that its engineers are working “urgently” to restore service, although it warns that recovery will take time. British Airways and EasyJet have confirmed disruptions; the second has indicated that the delays were spreading to other European countries. Arrivals have not been affected.