Computer failure causes chaos at UK airports

 Planes were grounded and passengers experienced hours of delays and cancelled flights on Friday as London airspace was severely restricted for about an hour. Systems failure is said to be responsible for the air traffic control chaos that affected airports across London and south-east England on Friday.

Nats, the company responsible for controlling British airspace, on Saturday gave the first detailed explanation of the problem at its national centre in Swanwick, Hampshire, that resulted in dozens of flights being cancelled and delayed.

Air traffic controller Nats was able to restore its computer services after the unknown glitch but hundreds of international flights had already been diverted or disrupted. A spokeswoman for Nats confirmed there was a technical failure at Swanwick, in Hampshire, the leading control centre for southern UK airspace.

She said: “The system has been restored. However, it will take time for operations across the UK to fully recover so passengers should contact their airline for the status of their flight.

“We apologise for any delays and the inconvenience this may have caused. We are investigating the cause of this fault but can confirm that, contrary to some reports, it was not due to a power outage.”