A technical problem with Britain’s air traffic control system disrupted flights across the country on Tuesday, with more than 600 flights canceled, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.Britain’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said the issue was linked to its flight processing system. Engineers were working to restore normal operations after the problem affected airports across the UK.NATS later said it had “implemented a fix and our flight system is starting to recover.”Flightradar24 said at least 625 flights arriving at or departing from UK airports had been cancelled. London Heathrow was among the affected airports, while airlines including British Airways, EasyJet, KLM and Lufthansa also reported disruptions.Several passengers said on social media that they had remained stuck on aircraft for hours before their flights were cancelled. Others complained about poor communication from airlines during the disruption.Airports affected included London Stansted and London City, along with Manchester, Birmingham, Gatwick and airports in Scotland. Passengers were urged to contact their airlines and check their flight status before travelling.EasyJet said some of its flights were “unable to operate” because of the system failure and warned of “delays to flights across Europe.”At Heathrow, the airport’s website showed multiple cancellations and delays involving short-haul flights to European destinations.The exact cause of the technical failure was not immediately known.
