UK flight chaos could last for days, airline passengers warned

Airline passengers have been warned that flight disruption could persist for days, after a technical meltdown in UK air traffic control left hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded or delayed on the summer bank holiday. Returning holidaymakers and those hoping to travel out of UK airports faced cancellations and delays of up to 12 hours after takeoffs and inbound flights were suspended due to a “network-wide” computer failure. A limited number of flights were able to operate but air traffic was severely restricted as engineers struggled to locate and rectify the problem. With controllers forced to input flight plans manually, about 500 flights were cancelled and others delayed for hours even before Nats, the national airspace controllers, announced at 3.15pm that it had “identified and remedied” the issue that arose almost four hours earlier. Passengers at airports in the UK and around Europe reported being left in limbo with travel plans wrecked and check-in desks closed, while airlines were unable to confirm if their flights would leave. The unusually long outage is likely to cause disruption for several days, with knock-on delays from crew and planes left out of position. British Airways said passengers due to travel on Monday or Tuesday could move their flights free of charge, while Heathrow on Monday evening urged passengers to come to the airport only if flights were confirmed as operating. At Gatwick, where about 150 flights were scrapped, easyJet cancelled virtually all departing international flights on Monday afternoon. The airline could not yet confirm what flights would operate on Tuesday but it is understood to expect some continuing impact on its schedules.<br/>