'Forced To Divert, Delay...': Air India Issues Advisory After UK Air Traffic Control Glitch Disrupts Flights

A technical failure in the UK’s air traffic control system disrupted flight operations across Britain on Tuesday, September 8, forcing airlines to cancel, delay and divert services at several major airports.

The disruption affected airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted, with more than 600 flights reportedly cancelled during the day. Airlines issued advisories to passengers as the technical problem caused significant disruption to flight schedules.

Air India said several of its flights operating to and from the UK had been affected by the problem at NATS, Britain’s air traffic control provider.

“Flights operating to and from airports in the United Kingdom have been impacted by a technical fault at NATS, the UK air traffic control provider. As a result, Air India has been forced to divert, delay or cancel multiple flights scheduled to operate to and from UK airports", it said.

“This may lead to delays in some of our other services, too, as our aircraft and crews are out of position following the disruption", the airline said.

Air India Advises Passengers To Check Flight Status

Air India said it was monitoring developments and asked passengers to verify their flight status before heading to the airport.

“Passengers are advised to check the latest status of their flights here https://airindia.com/in/en/manage/flight-status.html before proceeding to the airport. We are closely monitoring the situation and are making every effort to minimise disruptions as much as possible", the airline said.

“We regret the inconvenience caused by this unfortunate situation, which is entirely beyond our control, and thank our passengers for their patience and understanding", it added.

British Airways was also severely affected, cancelling or diverting more than 100 flights on Tuesday afternoon and disrupting travel for tens of thousands of passengers.

“While NATS has informed us that their air traffic control system fault has been resolved, the severity of the issue means that there will be a significant knock-on impact on our customers and colleagues", the airline said in a statement.

NATS Fixes Fault But Flight Backlog Remains

NATS said the failure affected its flight data processing system. Although the technical problem was resolved by early evening, the disruption had created a substantial backlog that would take time to clear.

“Recovery from today’s system issue has taken longer than we had hoped," Britain’s air traffic control service, known as NATS, said in a statement posted on X.

“Our system issue is now resolved, we are operating normally and working as hard as possible to clear the backlog of flights," it said.

British Airways advised passengers with cancelled flights not to travel to the airport and offered affected travellers the option of moving flights without additional charges until Friday, September 11.