NATS Technical Issue Cancels 2,000 UK Flights as Heathrow Loses Nearly Half Its Departures
Updated
Updated · Business Insider · Sep 9
NATS Technical Issue Cancels 2,000 UK Flights as Heathrow Loses Nearly Half Its Departures
3 articles · Updated · Business Insider · Sep 9
Summary
1,746 UK flights were canceled or never departed on Tuesday after NATS suffered a technical issue, and another 291 were scrubbed by Wednesday lunchtime, pushing total disruption past 2,000 flights.
Heathrow took the hardest hit: nearly half its scheduled departures were canceled Tuesday, more than 700 flights had been canceled there by Wednesday lunchtime, and 70 inbound flights were diverted.
British Airways said the breakdown left aircraft and crews stranded in the wrong cities, forcing an overnight schedule rebuild that still resulted in 190 more cancellations on Wednesday.
The fallout spread well beyond Britain because Heathrow serves more than 200 cities in over 80 countries; diverted long-haul flights included A380 services from Emirates and Singapore Airlines.
NATS apologized and said recovery would take time, while Ryanair renewed calls for CEO Martin Rolfe to resign and the UK transport secretary summoned him for a meeting.