UK’s all too famous Heathrow Airport is one of the largest of the six international airports within the London airport system. This is next to Stansed, Gatwick, Luton, Sity and Southend. As of 2024, Heathrow was not only considered the busiest airport in Europe, but also the fifth-busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic. If you consider international passenger traffic, it is the second-busiest airport in the world. During that same year, statistics noted that Heathrow also has the most international connections in the world.
Some disruptive flight technicalities
A technical problem that affected over a hundred flights across UK airports on Wednesday was an isolated event with no evidence of malign activity, transport minister Heidi Alexander said, as airlines worked to clear the backlog on Thursday. Labour Party Minister Heidi Alexander has served as Secretary of State for Transport since November 2024. National Air Traffic Services (NATS)ย restoredย its systems,ย withย capacity returning toย normal, late on Wednesdayย afterย switchingย to a back-up systemย following what it described as a radar-related failure.
Theย second outage in recent yearsย at NATS, which provides air traffic control services for planes in UK airspace and the eastern part of the North Atlantic,ย affectedย Heathrow and Gatwick airports inย London, Edinburghย Airport, and other locations. En-route business for the company is operated and regulated under license from the CAA or Civil Aviation Authority. On Thursday, NATS repeated its apology to those affected, and added that there was no evidence that the incident was cyber-related.
A logical approach when chaos erupts
“I know that any disruption is frustrating for passengers. Flights are now resumed … I will continue to receive regular updates,” Alexander wrote on social media platform X, following a meeting with NATS Chief Executive Martin Rolfe over the incident. Martin Rolfe has been at the helm of NATS in the position of Chief Executive as from May 2015. Prior to this, he served as the Managing Director of Operations since 2012. This position tasked him with the responsibility of NATS’ economically regulated North Atlantic as well as UK services.
Earlier on Thursday, Alexander said NATS was working closely with airlines and airports to clear the backlog. A total ofย 122ย flights wereย cancelledย as of 1830 GMT on Wednesday,ย with a further 23 cancelled as of 0730 GMT on Thursday,ย according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. The firm itself has the ability to deliver data as well as to provide cutting-edge analytics.
A broader overview of UK air travel
This helps to equip airports, travel enterprises, airlines, aircraft manufacturers as well as financial entities with relevant information crucial to optimize business operations, accelerate revenue growth and promote informed decision making. At least 16 flights, including departures to Brussels and Toronto and arrivals from New York and Berlin, had been cancelled at Heathrow Airport, according to its website.
The airport, Britain’s largest and Europe’s busiest, was hit by a fire at a power sub-station in March which stranded thousands of passengers. Ryanair Chief Operating Officer Neal McMahon called on NATS’ Rolfe to resign, saying no lessons had been learnt since the August 2023 disruption caused by a malfunctioning in the automatic processing of flight plans.
This may seem like a bit of a Deja vu incident for NATS, as it is not the only time technical difficulties hampered operations. During December 2014 a computer system failure at NATS restricted traffic flow throughout the London airspace. This was ascribed to a single faulty line of software source code. In August 2023 a major technical incident caused some severe delays. The timing was awful, as it was one of the busiest days of the year. Although the delay only lasted for more or less 3 hours, some further knock-on delays were also experienced. This all can attest to just how much chaos can be caused by even just a small technical glitch.
GCN.com/Reuters