Heathrow and other London airports recover after ATC technical glitch
A data‑processing issue at Nats forced the shutdown of departures at three major London airports, but services are now gradually resuming.
At around 14:00 GMT on Thursday, a technical fault in the United Kingdom’s air‑traffic‑control system halted departures at Heathrow Airport, Gatwick Airport and London City Airport. The problem, traced to Nats’ flight‑processing platform, led to the cancellation of roughly 240 flights, according to the flight‑tracking service AirNav Radar.
Technical glitch halts departures
Operators first reported the issue just before 14:00, when Nats announced it was investigating a “technical issue” that was affecting the nation’s busiest hubs. By 14:30, the service confirmed that the aerodrome was unavailable for arrivals for a two‑hour window, prompting airlines to suspend take‑offs and passengers to face long queues.
“We are continuing to work closely with our airline and airport customers on recovery. We apologise sincerely for the disruption to people’s journeys today and they should continue to check with their airline.”
AirNav Radar’s data showed the cancellations climbing rapidly, and social‑media feeds were filled with frustrated travellers sharing missed connections and delayed business meetings.
Airlines and airports respond
British Airways, which operates a large base at Heathrow, issued a statement saying it was “currently experiencing disruption” and that crews were working to restore normal schedules. Heathrow’s own communication echoed Nats, noting that arriving flights were not directly affected but that departing services were being supported as the control team implemented a fix.
By 16:40, Nats announced it had applied a corrective patch and that its flight‑processing system was “starting to recover”. The agency urged passengers to stay in touch with their airlines for the latest information.
Recovery and next steps
With the fix in place, departures began to resume gradually across the three airports. Heathrow reported that the majority of delayed flights were expected to take off later in the evening, while Gatwick and London City worked to clear backlogs.
Industry analysts expect the disruption to have a short‑term impact on airline revenue and could prompt a review of Nats’ technology roadmap. In the longer run, the event may accelerate investment in more resilient, cloud‑based systems to prevent similar outages.
Travelers are advised to monitor airline communications and allow extra time for check‑in and security procedures as the network returns to full capacity.
