Tens of thousands of passengers impacted after air traffic control issue

At 6.30am, more than 200 flights were showing as cancelled at Heathrow, with a smaller number at Gatwick also impacted. Many more flights are also delayed, as airlines and airports face the nightmare fall-out from a system failure at National Air Traffic Services (NATS), which provides air traffic control services across the country, leading to the cancellation of 1,300 flights to and from UK airports. Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers had been disrupted and it had cancelled more than 50 scheduled flights. NATS said the issue was with its “flight processing system”. Its chief executive officer, Martin Rolfe, who apologised for the chaos, is facing a grilling from Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander on what went wrong. Travel journalist Simon Calder said the knock-on effects on Wednesday were “going to be horrible”.He told Sky News: “There are going to be dozens of cancellations in the morning of flights coming into Heathrow because, basically, the flights didn’t go out (last night).”Follow the latest updates below...The situation at HeathrowAs of 6.30am, The Standard counted at least 200 flight already cancelled at Heathrow today, with roughly an even split between arrivals and departures.A spokesperson for the airport said: “Following yesterday’s technical issue affecting NATS air traffic control, Heathrow’s operations are recovering.“Flights are operating today, however some knock-on disruption is expected as airlines reposition aircraft and crew.“Passengers are advised to check the latest status of their flight directly with their airline and to only travel to Heathrow if their flight is confirmed as operating today.“We apologise to passengers affected by the disruption. Additional colleagues are available across our terminals to provide support, and we are working closely with NATS and our airline partners to return operations to normal as quickly as possible.”Air traffic mayhem as hundreds of flights cancelledThe technical failure with air traffic control plunged UK airports into chaos on Tuesday, with more havoc expected on Wednesday with hundred of flights already cancelled.Heathrow and Gatwick airports were hardest hit by the issue on Tuesday afternoon which led to the cancellation of more than 875 flights across the UK.By 10.30pm almost 500 flights to and from the London airports were cancelled with a further 750 delayed, according to flight tracker Flightradar.Stansted, London City and Luton airports that serve the capital were also affected with scores of delays and cancellations.Stansted in Essex saw 113 flights cancelled and 261 flights delayed, according to Flightradar’s analysis. More than 60 flights were axed at London City airport.Pictures taken at Stansted showed hordes of flyers waiting for updates on delayed trips and refunds in the terminal.Good morningWe are resuming our live coverage this morning, with disruption to London flights expected to continue today following a technical failure with air traffic control.Coverage suspended Our coverage of the ongoing disruption across UK’s airports, including Heathrow and Gatwick following a technical issue, has been suspended for today.Tune in again on Wednesday morning for the latest updates.Overnight flying restrictions easedThe government has temporarily eased night flying restrictions to allow airports to operate overnight and clear a massive flight backlog, according to The Telegraph.There are normally restrictions to the numbers and types of aircraft allowed to operate between 11.30pm and 6am.But these have been eased on account of the ongoing disruption.However, Heathrow has not confirmed they will run flights through the night.Flights now arriving and departing from Bristol AirportBristol Airport says flights are now arriving and departing at Bristol Airport.In a statement on X, it warns that disruption is "likely to continue" into tomorrow and customers should check the latest flight information with their airline.Heathrow suspends arrivals for the rest of TuesdayHeathrow said it has suspended arrivals for the rest of Tuesday after technical issues at an air traffic control provider caused huge disruption to flights.Nats, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports, said in a statement that recovery had “taken longer than we had hoped” but the issues had been resolved.In a statement on X, Heathrow said: “Arrivals into Heathrow have been suspended for the remainder of Tuesday 8 September to ensure the safety of our passengers and colleagues.“Departures have resumed, but disruption is expected to continue, so we advise passengers to check with their airline for the latest flight information before travelling to the airport.“We apologise to those affected and are supporting our local NATS team and airline partners as they work through the resulting disruption.”Delayed passengers wait and queue with their luggage at Terminal 3 of London Heathrow airportAFP/GettyDepartures resume at Heathrow but disruption continues A Heathrow spokesperson said: "Due to the earlier technical issue affecting NATS, arrivals into Heathrow have been suspended for the rest of the day to ensure the safety of our passengers and colleagues. “Departures have resumed, but disruption is expected to continue, so we advise passengers to check with their airline for the latest flight information before travelling to the airport. “We apologise to those affected and are supporting our local NATS team and airline partners as they work through the resulting disruption."More than 1,000 UK flights cancelled, FlightRadar reportsFlghtRadar maps show the difference between inbound flights today in comparison to last Tuesday, with the skies currently looking much clearer.Over 1,000 flights have been cancelled now, according to the site. What caused the disruption and how long will it last?As of yet, we don’t know the exact cause of the fault that led to the disruption, other than it being a technical issue in Nats' systems.It is also unclear how long it will take for flights to fully resume and for the backlog to be fully cleared.But disruption is expected to last for some hours yet.