Radar failure grounds planes across UK, disrupts travel at London Airports

Major flight disruptions have hit Britain’s airspace at the height of the school summer holidays, after a radar failure forced a temporary nationwide shutdown of departures.

Air traffic control company NATS confirmed a “technical issue” at its Swanwick centre led to the grounding of planes and a dramatic reduction in the number of aircraft allowed in the London control area.

Departures were halted at Gatwick and heavily delayed at other London hubs, including Heathrow, Stansted, and Luton, stranding passengers on the tarmac and triggering widespread cancellations and diversions. Six or seven aircraft that were in the air and due to land were diverted to Paris and Brussels, and they’re trying to get those passengers home.

NATS stated that safety remained the top priority, and engineers were working urgently to fix the fault, although no timeline was provided for a full return to normal operations.

The outage is expected to impact hundreds of thousands of passengers, many of whom were travelling at the start of the UK’s busiest holiday season. Travellers have been advised to check with their airlines for the latest flight updates.