Britain’s airspace shut: All outbound UK flights grounded by ‘technical issue’

A technical issue briefly grounded flights and led to diversions in Britain on Wednesday before engineers were able to restore the system, the UK’s air traffic control operator said.The National Air Traffic Service (Nats) noted that the glitch happened at its control centre at Swanwick, southwest of the capital London, and required it to limit the number of aircraft flying to ensure safety.At the London Gatwick Airport, the issue affected outbound flights across the UK. Some inbound flights were put into holding patterns or diverted.At Stansted, another airport serving the city, many departures and arrivals were affected.About 20 minutes after issuing an initial alert, Nats said the problem had been “fixed” and it was “in the process of restoring normal operations.”“I am aware of a technical issue which impacted Nats’ operations, causing travel disruption this afternoon. I have been informed systems have now been restored but continued disruption is expected, and passengers should check with individual airports for advice,” AP quoted UK transport secretary Heidi Alexander as saying.The Nats system has suffered several software-related failures since it opened in 2002.In August 2023, a glitch meant flight plans had to be processed manually, rather than automatically. Hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled at the height of the summer holidays and some 700,000 passengers affected.London is served by as many as six airports: besides Gatwick and Stansted, it has Heathrow (fifth busiest globally and busiest in Europe), Luton, City, and Southend.