Britain’s largest budget airline will operate five repatriation flights to London Gatwick over the coming days as widespread air traffic control chaos continues across Europe.
EasyJet will operate the “rescue flights” from Palma and Faro on 30 August, Tenerife and Enfidha on 31 August and Rhodes on 1 September.
Hundreds of flights to and from UK airports were cancelled again on Tuesday as airlines struggled to recover from the hours-long failure of the National Air Traffic Services system on bank holiday Monday, blamed on a technical fault.
A dodgy flight plan filed by a French airline may have sparked the major systems meltdown, sources told The Independent earlier on Tuesday.
An easyJet spokesperson said: “We are also operating larger aircraft on key routes including Faro, Ibiza, Dalaman and Tenerife to provide some additional 700 seats this week.
“Although this situation was outside of our control, we are sorry for the difficulty this has caused for our customers and remain focused on doing all possible to assist and repatriate them. Customers will be moved onto repatriation flights and notified directly.”
Have you been affected by delays? If so email andy.gregory@independent.co.uk
Key Points
Hundreds of flights cancelled again on Tuesday
French airline’s ‘dodgy flight plan’ set system meltdown in motion, sources tell Simon Calder
Data reveals 1,500 flights were cancelled on Monday in worst day for aviation since 2010
Technical issue ‘identified and remedied’, National Air Traffic Services says
Air traffic control failure causes chaos at UK airports
easyJet lays on rescue flights
easyJet lays on rescue flights
19:12 , Eleanor Noyce
Britain’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, will operate five repatriation flights to London Gatwick over the coming days.
The rescue flights will operate from Palma and Faro on 30 August, Tenerife and Enfidha on 31 August and Rhodes on 1 September.
A spokesperson said: “We are also operating larger aircraft on key routes including Faro, Ibiza, Dalaman and Tenerife to provide some additional 700 seats this week. Although this situation was outside of our control, we are sorry for the difficulty this has caused for our customers and remain focused on doing all possible to assist and repatriate them. Customers will be moved onto repatriation flights and notified directly.”
Simon Calder: What is causing the air traffic control chaos? The authorities have some explaining to do
19:10 , Eleanor Noyce
It’s the £80m question: Why are airlines facing enormous financial losses while their passengers endure extreme distress?
The last week of August is a time of high demand for air travel, especially from returning holidaymakers. Because of the UK’s limited airport infrastructure, especially in southeast England, there is precious little slack in the system: Heathrow and Gatwick are, respectively, the busiest two-runway and single-runway airports in the world.
So the UK’s normally well-regarded air traffic control (ATC) system needed to be working perfectly on bank holiday Monday.
Read more:
Simon Calder: What is causing the air traffic control chaos?
Everything you need to know about air traffic control failure on Tuesday as more flights cancelled
18:50 , Eleanor Noyce
As airlines struggle to recover from the four-hour failure of the main air-traffic control system across the UK on Monday, airlines are making dozens more cancellations.
Aircraft and flight crew are out of position after the severe disruption on bank holiday Monday.
More than 1,200 flights to, from and within the UK were grounded by the failure at Nats, the national air-traffic provider. Around 200,000 people are starting the day where they did not wish to be – with many sleeping overnight at airports.
Simon Calder reports:
Everything you need to know about air traffic control failure on Tuesday
Ask Me Anything: Put your questions to Simon Calder as flight cancellations cause mayhem across Europe
18:30 , Eleanor Noyce
Flight cancellations are continuing as airlines struggle to recover from the four-hour failure of the main air-traffic control system across the UK on bank holiday Monday.
The outage left aircraft and flight crew out of position after the severe disruption on Monday 28 August, with an estimated 1,200 flights to and from the UK cancelled.
Britain’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, grounded more than 80 flights on Tuesday, while British Airways also grounded more than 60 flights.
Ask our travel expert for advice on your rights and what to do if your flight is cancelled:
Simon Calder to answer your holiday questions amid air traffic control chaos
More travel chaos after 300,000 hit by cancellations – and French error blamed for air traffic mayhem
18:10 , Eleanor Noyce
Passengers hit by the air traffic control meltdown face being stranded abroad for up to a week, as it emerged that an incorrectly-filed flight plan by a French airline may have triggered the outage.
Around 300,000 airline passengers have now been hit by flight cancellations since the hours-long failure of the Nats system on bank holiday Monday. The knock-on effect is set to last for several more days, as under-pressure airlines battle the backlog in a week where millions are already returning to the UK from their summer holidays.
Several sources say the issue may have been caused when a French airline filed a dodgy flight plan that made no digital sense. Instead of the error being rejected, it prompted a shutdown of the entire Nats system – raising questions over how one clerical error could cause such mayhem.
Simon Calder and Andy Gregory report:
More travel chaos as French error blamed for flights mayhem
In pictures: Passengers wait as hundreds of flights cancelled
17:44 , Eleanor Noyce
Hundreds of flights to and from UK airports were cancelled on Tuesday as airlines struggled to recover from the hours-long failure of the National Air Traffic Services system on bank holiday Monday, blamed on a technical fault.
Most are short-haul departures from London Heathrow, including Athens, Ibiza and Pisa. But transatlantic flights are also affected, with the Heathrow-Nashville and Gatwick-Tampa cancelled.
“It is complicated, which is why it relies on automation and why we’ve had digitalisation come in”, aviation consultant John Strickland explained.
“Systems are meant to be robust. They are pressure tested and that does give a very high level of reliability.
“But as we’ve seen in other parts of the industry, and undoubtedly in other industries too like the banking sector, there is a vulnerability in which relying on IT systems presents.”
Simon Calder: What is causing the air traffic control chaos? The authorities have some explaining to do
17:20 , Eleanor Noyce
It’s the £80m question: Why are airlines facing enormous financial losses while their passengers endure extreme distress?
The last week of August is a time of high demand for air travel, especially from returning holidaymakers. Because of the UK’s limited airport infrastructure, especially in southeast England, there is precious little slack in the system: Heathrow and Gatwick are, respectively, the busiest two-runway and single-runway airports in the world.
So the UK’s normally well-regarded air traffic control (ATC) system needed to be working perfectly on bank holiday Monday.
Simon Calder reports:
Simon Calder: What is causing the air traffic control chaos?
‘Knock-on effects of yesterday’s disruption are likely to continue over the coming days’, says transport secretary
17:10 , Eleanor Noyce
On Tuesday afternoon, UK transport secretary Mark Harper chaired a meeting with NATS, the Civil Aviation Authority, airlines, airports, trade bodies and Border Force following ongoing disruption to air traffic control.
The Department for Transport has implemented temporary alleviations to allow night flights at the airports it regulates, with airline and airport chief executives advising that further disruption should be expected in the coming days.
“I echo the apology offered by NATS to everyone caught up in the disruption following yesterday’s technical issue with air traffic control. My priority continues to be making sure passengers get where they need to be as quickly as possible”, Mr Harper said following the meeting.
“I am grateful to airlines, airports and Border Force for the work being done to get passengers to their destinations and to provide support while they wait.
“Airlines are clear about their responsibilities to their customers, and I stand ready to provide further appropriate support from the Government should the industry request it.
“Although the air traffic control system is back up and running, the knock-on effects of yesterday’s disruption are likely to continue over the coming days. Passengers due to travel should check with their airlines before heading to the airport.”
‘Frustrated’ Scottish student stranded at airport overnight amid travel chaos
17:05 , Eleanor Noyce
A “frustrated and tired” Scottish drama student was left stranded in Amsterdam Airport overnight when an air traffic control glitch saw his flight cancelled, forcing him to sleep there.
Matthew Creed, a 26-year-old drama student from Harthill, became stuck at Schiphol Amsterdam Airport after his flight with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to Edinburgh was cancelled.
The former drama teacher, who worked in Hong Kong for three years, was initially flying from the former British city to Edinburgh with a stopover in Doha on Qatar Airways – he planned to see his family in Scotland before beginning his master’s degree in drama in London.
When he arrived in Hong Kong, Qatar Airways informed him that his ticket was on standby.
Upon arrival in Doha, he was notified that he did not have a seat on the flight to Edinburgh, which was “nerve-racking” for him.
Qatar then transferred him on a KLM flight to Amsterdam – he arrived at 3am on Monday only to discover the Dutch airliner had cancelled his next flight to Edinburgh.
“(I) got to Amsterdam about three o’clock yesterday, waiting for the next flight about 4.50am, and then realised there was a massive queue in the middle of the airport,” he told the PA news agency.
“People were heading towards the exit or towards desks for KLM, who were operating the flight that Qatar had put me on.
“Then I looked at the board and realised my flight was cancelled.”
Air traffic failure: how much do controllers earn?
16:50 , Eleanor Noyce
Air traffic controllers are responsible for ensuring all planes and passengers get to their destination safely and on time, but this week a “technical glitch” has delayed hundreds of flights across Britain.
Around 200,000 people started the day on Tuesday where they did not wish to be – with many expecting to be stranded for several days, as airlines struggle to recover from the hours-long failure of the National Air Traffic Services (Nats) system on bank holiday Monday.
Almost 300 flights were cancelled at the UK’s six busiest airports alone on Tuesday. Most were short-haul departures from London Heathrow but some transatlantic flights were also affected.
So how much do air traffic controllers get paid, and what qualifications do they need to do the job?
Alexander Butler has more:
Air traffic failure: how much do controllers earn?
Nearly 300 more flights cancelled after air traffic control glitch
16:35 , Eleanor Noyce
Tens of thousands more airline passengers suffered flight cancellations on Tuesday due to the knock-on impact of an air traffic control (ATC) fault.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said it was the worst incident of its kind in “nearly a decade” and announced an “independent review” will be carried out.
The issue started on Monday, when more than a quarter of flights at UK airports were cancelled.
ATC provider National Air Traffic Services (Nats) suffered what it described as a “technical issue” preventing it from automatically processing flight plans.
This resulted in flights to and from UK airports being restricted while the plans were checked manually.
Nats said at 3.15pm on Monday the problem was resolved, but disruption continued into Tuesday as many aircraft and crews were out of position.
Analysis of flight data websites by the PA news agency shows at least 281 flights – including departures and arrivals – were cancelled on Tuesday at the UK’s six busiest airports.
This consisted of 75 at Gatwick, 74 at Heathrow, 63 at Manchester, 28 at Stansted, 23 at Luton and 18 at Edinburgh.
Many other flights were significantly delayed.
Ask Me Anything: Put your questions to Simon Calder as flight cancellations cause mayhem across Europe
16:20 , Eleanor Noyce
Flight cancellations are continuing as airlines struggle to recover from the four-hour failure of the main air-traffic control system across the UK on bank holiday Monday.
The outage left aircraft and flight crew out of position after the severe disruption on Monday 28 August, with an estimated 1,200 flights to and from the UK cancelled.
Britain’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, grounded more than 80 flights on Tuesday, while British Airways also grounded more than 60 flights.
Ask our travel expert for advice on your rights and what to do if your flight is cancelled:
Simon Calder to answer your holiday questions amid air traffic control chaos
Ryanair boss slams air traffic control chaos as ‘unacceptable’
16:10 , Eleanor Noyce
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has slammed air traffic control (ATC) provider Nats for the “unacceptable” disruption caused over the past two days.
In a video message, the chief executive described Monday as “a very difficult day” with 250 flights cancelled, while a further 70 were axed on Tuesday.
He said: “We have been in contact with UK Nats. We still haven’t had an explanation from them (about) what exactly caused this failure yesterday and where were their back-up systems.
“It’s not acceptable that UK Nats simply allow their computer systems to be taken down and everybody’s flights get cancelled.”
Speaking from the airline’s operations centre at Dublin Airport, Mr O’Leary went on: “We’ve had a very difficult day yesterday due to the UK Nats ATC failure.
“I’m sad to report that we had to cancel about 250 flights affecting the flights of about 40,000 passengers because of long delays to flight plans, crews running out of hours.
“Last night we had 20 aircraft that couldn’t get back to their home bases so they’re out of place for today.
“Today, unfortunately, it looks like we’re going to cancel about another 70 flights.
“That’s a very small number out of the 3,200 flights we’re planning but that doesn’t mean we’re not doing everything we possibly can to try to minimise the disruption for our passengers and their families.”
He added: “We hope by the end of today, Tuesday, that from tomorrow we’ll be running a normal operation.”
Caught in the air traffic control nightmare? Your rights when flights go wrong
15:39 , Andy Gregory
Hundreds of thousands of passengers booked to travel to or from the UK have had their flights cancelled or delayed after the air-traffic control system was hit by a technical issue.
Here, The Independent’s travel expert Simon Calder explains what you can do if you are caught up in the chaos:
Caught in the air traffic control nightmare? Your rights when flights go wrong
Airlines have responsibility to get customers home, Downing Street says
15:29 , Andy Gregory
Downing Street has warned that airlines have a responsibility to “get customers back to where they should be”, as thousands of holidaymakers remain stranded.
This could include replacement transport, meals and accommodation until their flight finally takes off, No 10 said.
Passenger will ‘definitely reconsider flying anywhere for a long time’
15:14 , Andy Gregory
A passenger caught in this week’s travel chaos has warned that she “will definitely reconsider flying anywhere for a long time” – and “dreads to think how Gatwick would handle a real disaster”.
Lynda Racz-Taylor had been part of a dozen-strong group flying from Gatwick to join 16 other family members in Tolouse for their neice’s 30th birthday, which was “ruined” as the air traffic control nightmare unfolded on Monday.
While they have been offered the choice of rebooking or a refund by EasyJet, just three of their original party has been able to rebook new flights due to work and school commitments, with the earliest available on Wednesday evening.
Upon eventually leaving the airport yesterday after the cancellation, they were unable to pick up their cars from the off-site car park, meaning Ms Racz-Taylor’s husband and brothers had to return to the airport this morning to collect them.
Noting that the information desk was “absolutely swamped”, Ms Racz-Taylor told The Independent: “Gatwick and easyJet really need to consider trying some kind of crisis team for these kind of disruptions.
“We got the feeling ‘not my job, [I’m] out of here’, we even overheard airport staff on the shuttle bus saying that. I dread to think how Gatwick would handle a real disaster… after this trip I will definitely reconsider flying anywhere for a long time, it gets worse, air travel is just awful in general.”
Family spends night in Leeds Bradford airport in bid to reach wedding anniversary party
14:58 , Andy Gregory
Rafal Batko and his family, from Sheffield, spent the night at Leeds Bradford Airport after their flight to Krakow was cancelled.
Mr Batko, who is flying out for his mother and father-in-law’s wedding anniversary party, said: “We’ve been here for 17 hours. We tried to get into a hotel but there was no space because everyone was in the same position.
“It’s stressful but fingers crossed we’ll get on one today. If not we’ll have to go home, we are tired and everything is too expensive to buy.”
11-year-old boy ‘over the moon’ as pilot on grounded plane gives him tour of cockpit
14:48 , Andy Gregory
With planes suck on the tarmac for hours yesterday, pilots were keeping families entertained by giving children tours of the cockpit as they waited for news of a possible departure.
Gwen Magarotto told The Independent that her son Spencer and his family were forced to “sit it out” on the tarmac at Corfu after their flight to Exeter was delayed.
But for her 11-year-old grandson Danny, who “adores planes”, the experience became the “highlight of his holiday” after the “kind” pilot allowed him to sit in the plane’s cockpit while explaining what all of the various dials and mechanisms were.
Ms Margarotto said her grandson had been “over the moon”, but was soon left “freezing” once their plane finally touched down back in Exeter following their holiday in the Greek sun.
You can read more stories from those caught up in yesterday’s chaos here:
Holidaymakers stuck in travel hell as UK traffic control fault grounds flights
More than 1,500 UK flights cancelled on Monday
14:14 , Andy Gregory
Aviation analytics company Cirium said 790 departures and 785 arrivals were cancelled across all UK airports on Monday.
That was equivalent to around 27 per cent of all planned flights and means that around 250,000 people were affected.
Downing Street not ruling out French airline error may be to blame for meltdown
13:59 , Andy Gregory
Our Politics and Whitehall Editor Kate Devlin reports:
Downing Street has said that airlines should be “proactively” communicating with passengers about their rights and taking “every possible steps” to communicate with their passengers about the disruption they are facing.
And No 10 did not rule out that an error by a French airline could have caused the chaos.
What is causing the air traffic control chaos? The authorities have some explaining to do
13:50 , Andy Gregory
It’s the £80m question: Why are airlines facing enormous financial losses while their passengers endure extreme distress?
The last week of August is a time of high demand for air travel, especially from returning holidaymakers. Because of the UK’s limited airport infrastructure, especially in southeast England, there is precious little slack in the system: Heathrow and Gatwick are, respectively, the busiest two-runway and single-runway airports in the world.
So the UK’s normally well-regarded air traffic control (ATC) system needed to be working perfectly on bank holiday Monday.
The Independent’s travel expert Simon Calder looks at what may have gone wrong in his latest Plane Talk analysis:
Simon Calder: What is causing the air traffic control chaos?
Hundreds of flights cancelled again on Tuesday
13:29 , Andy Gregory
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled again today, after some 1,200 flights were grounded on Monday in what marked the worst day for UK aviation since the Iceland volcano in 2010 .
Analysis of flight data websites by the PA news agency shows at least 281 flights were cancelled on Tuesday at the UK’s six busiest airports.
This consisted of 75 at Gatwick, 74 at Heathrow, 63 at Manchester, 28 at Stansted, 23 at Luton and 18 at Edinburgh.
Many other flights were significantly delayed.
French airline’s ‘dodgy flight plan set system meltdown in motion’
13:20 , Andy Gregory
The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder reports:
Several sources have told me that a French airline filed a dodgy flight plan that made no digital sense. The Nats system should automatically have identified an anomaly and spat out the plan, saying “try again”.
Yet instead, the flight plan was ingested and set in train a shutdown of the entire system. The closest analogy I can come up with is a spanner being thrown into an extremely well-tuned machine – let’s say an aircraft engine – and shutting the whole thing down. The big question Nats has to answer is: why wasn’t there protection against said spanner, and what is being done to avoid a repeat?
Safety was never an issue: UK air-traffic control has a well-deserved reputation for superb professionalism. But with so much emotional and financial cost being paid by passengers and airlines, the air-traffic control provider has some explaining to do. Very soon.
ICYMI: Everything you need to know about air traffic control failure on Tuesday as more flights cancelled
13:00 , Maanya Sachdeva
If you’re just joining us, here’s everything you need to know about the air-traffic control failure that led to thousands of flights being cancelled across the UK on Monday:
Everything you need to know about air traffic control failure on Tuesday
Ryanair CEO says Nats failure is ‘not acceptable’
12:31 , Maanya Sachdeva
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has said it’s “not acceptable” that the national air-traffic control service “simply allow their computer systems to be taken down”, in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter).
“It’s not acceptable that UK Nats simply allow their computer systems to be taken down, and everybody’s flights get cancelled or delayed,” Mr O’Leary said in a video statement, addressing the travel chaos that gripped the Bank Holiday weekend.
No 10 addresses speculation over cause of air-traffic control outage
12:16 , Maanya Sachdeva
Downing Street did not rule out the possibility that an inputting error by a French airline could have caused the disruption.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “There’s going to be, think you’ll know that there’s going to be an investigation by the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) and a report shared with Government.
“I think (Transport Secretary) Mark Harper confirmed this morning he’ll be getting that in days.
“I’m not going to pre-empt that. I’ve seen, obviously, various bits of speculation, but I’m not going to pre-empt the work that needs to be done.”
But he added that experts had confirmed it was a “technical issue, not a cybersecurity incident”.
Asked if officials would speak to counterparts across the English Channel, the spokesman said “you would expect them to be speaking regularly” with other countries “but I’m not aware of any specific conversations with French counterparts”.
How long will it take for everyone to be brought home?
11:55 , Maanya Sachdeva
Some passengers stranded overseas as a result of Monday’s air-traffic control shutdown are telling The Independent that they have been offered flights in one week’s time.
In a week when millions are returning to the UK, there is immense pressure on capacity – and at least 300,000 people with flight cancellations are adding to that.
Passengers whose flights have been grounded go to the back of the queue. But in previous episodes of extreme disruption, long enforced stays abroad are rare.
The scale of the problem diminishes because travellers planning short breaks who are unable to travel out often cancel the whole trip; some passengers find alternative ways to get home, eg on trains or ferries from Continental Europe; and to distant destinations such as the Canary Islands and Turkey, airlines will often put on rescue flights.
These are most likely to happen on Wednesday and Thursday, before what is expected to be an extremely high-pressure weekend for inbound travel to the UK.
£80m: estimated cost to airlines of air-traffic control shutdown
11:40 , Maanya Sachdeva
How much is the air-traffic control failure likely to cost airlines?
Simon Calder, travel correspondent of The Independent, has done a back-of-a-boarding pass calculation.
It now seems likely that at least 300,000 passengers will be stranded for at least one night.
All are entitled to a hotel room until the airline can bring them back. Even if only half of them manage to find one, assuming an average two-night stay at £100 per person – plus £40 for meals – the care costs could total £42m.
The other big cost is lost revenue: in the last week of August airlines have been commanding extremely high fares. If only 5 per cent of the 3.5 million passengers expected on UK-touching flights were to cancel, assuming a £200 average fare, airlines could lose £35m.
Add a conservative £3m for extra staff costs and sundries, and losses to reach £80m.
The airlines that will sustain the highest losses are British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair.
Sunak says airlines have to honour their commitments to passengers.
11:25 , Maanya Sachdeva
Prime minister Rishi Sunak said transport secretary Mark Harper would be talking to airlines about their responsibilities to passengers hit by air traffic control disruption.
He told broadcasters: “I know people will be enormously frustrated by the disruption that’s impacting them.
“Thankfully things like this are rare and the issue itself was fixed in a matter of hours, but the disruption obviously is continuing and will last for a little while longer.
“The Transport Secretary is in constant dialogue with all the industry participants, he will be talking to airlines specifically later today and making sure that they support passengers to get home as quickly as possible.”
He said passengers had rights with regards to accommodation and alternative flights and Mr Harper would be making sure airlines “honour those obligations”.
Stansted and East Midlands airports operating ‘near normal’ flight schedules
11:09 , Maanya Sachdeva
Both Stansted and East Midlands airports have said they’re operating “near normal” flight schedules following the air-traffic control fault that led to 1,500 flight cancellations across the UK on Bank Holiday Monday.
“Some delays and cancellations may still occur, so we continue to advise passengers to check the status of their flight with their airline before travelling to the airport,” their statements read.
CAA addresses outage that triggered 1,500 flight cancellations
11:00 , Maanya Sachdeva
The interim chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority has addressed the air traffic control fault that led to 1,500 flights being cancelled on Bank Holiday Monday.
Rob Bishton said: “We understand the challenges many consumers continue to experience when flights are delayed or cancelled following yesterday’s technical issue that impacted the [national air-traffic control service] Nats flight planning system.
“Passengers who continue to be impacted can find information about what they are entitled to on our website. In the event of delays or cancellations, passengers will be expected to be provided with food and drink as well as accommodation if delayed overnight.
“As part of our regulatory oversight of its activities, we continue to engage with NATS and once its investigation is fully complete, an incident report will be provided to the UK Civil Aviation Authority.
“The report’s outcomes will then be shared with the Secretary of State for Transport,” he added.
Sign up to Simon Calder’s Travel Week
10:29 , Maanya Sachdeva
During times of travel chaos, The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder is here to provide unparalleled advice to holidaymakers – and the current situation with air traffic control is no different.
In Simon’s Travel Week email, readers will get regular round-ups of key developments in the world of travel, tips and tricks for getting away and inspiration for your next trip – wherever that may be.
You can sign up to Simon’s newsletter by clicking here, scrolling to Simon Calder’s Travel Week, click the ‘+’ sign, enter your email address and hit the sign up button.
Subscribers to Independent Premium can also receive a weekly Ask Me Anything email from Simon which sees him answer your burning travel questions each week.
You can sign up to Independent Premium by clicking here.
Data reveals 1,500 flights were cancelled due to air-traffic control failure
10:18 , Simon Calder
The final score of flight cancellations from Monday’s air-traffic control failure reveals a picture even worse than expected.
The aviation analytics firm Cirium reports that 790 flights due to depart from UK airports were cancelled on Monday, while 785 arrivals were axed. The figures represent 27 per cent of all operations.
Heathrow saw the highest number of cancellations, followed by Gatwick and Manchester.
One UK airline performed remarkably well amid all the chaos. The Scottish carrier Loganair cancelled 30 flights out of 160 planned (19 per cent) – but for those that did depart, better than two out of three were on time.
Bristol-Aberdeen passengers actually arrived in Aberdeen half-an-hour early.
Passengers detail ordeal amid travel disruptions following UK air traffic control outage
09:48 , Maanya Sachdeva
Passengers stuck in the UK and abroad described their frustration amid travel chaos, as some said they had no idea when or how they would get to their destination.
Rory Dollard, 40, cricket correspondent for the PA news agency, was stuck at Bergerac Dordogne Perigord airport in France and was told it may take up to six days before he and his family – his wife Joanne, 40, and children Emily, 10, and Arthur, eight – could return home to Skipton, North Yorkshire.
Lyudmila Hristova, 57, said her and her husband’s plans to attend her niece’s wedding in Bulgaria were “ruined” after BA cancelled their 2pm flight from Heathrow to Sofia.
And a German couple were considering returning home by train after their flight from London to Stuttgart was cancelled.
Myria Mebold, 36, also said that British Airways “didn’t know anything at all” when she and her husband asked about the situation and their flight.
Major UK airlines such as Tui and BA warned of “significant delays” for passengers amid changes to schedules.
Passengers were urged by airlines to check before they leave for the airport as their flight times may have changed.
British mother stranded in France may not get back to nine-month-old baby ‘for a week’
09:00 , Maanya Sachdeva
A British mother stranded in France has said she may not be able to get back home to see her nine-month-old baby after a technical fault in UK air traffic control has seen hundreds of flights cancelled and delayed.
Those stranded in the French town of Limoges say it’s been a “nightmare” trying to find alternative routes back home.
The British mother said: “I am in a bit of a pickle as I have got a nine-month-old baby at home and this is the longest I have ever been away. I don’t know what to do with myself.
“If I think about it too much I’ll cry.”
Caught in the air traffic control nightmare? Your rights when flights go wrong
08:30 , Maanya Sachdeva
Simon Calder has updated travel advice for the 250,000 passengers whose flights have been cancelled.
If you’ve been affected by the disruptions, you should know the airline must provide alternative transport as soon as possible, including on a rival carrier if need be.
The operator must also arrange a hotel room and meals for passengers, if their flights are cancelled.
A full breakdown of all your rights when flights go wrong can be found here:
Caught in the air traffic control nightmare? Your rights when flights go wrong
UK air travel disruption to last for days, Mark Harper says
08:01 , Maanya Sachdeva
British transport minister Mark Harper said it would take days to resolve the widespread disruption to flights into and out of the country after air traffic control systems were hit by a technical problem.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed on Monday – one of the country’s busiest travel days – after air traffic controllers were forced to switch to manual systems.
“There is going to be some knock on impact today and I suspect for another few days as airlines get their planes and get their services back to normal,” Mr Harper told the BBC on Tuesday.
The Independent’s Travel Correspondent Simon Calder on Tuesday reported airlines had grounded dozens more flights following the bank holiday travel disruptions.
Transport secretary orders review into worst airline disruption in nearly a decade
07:45 , Maanya Sachdeva
The Government does not believe the travel disruption at UK airports was caused by a cybersecurity incident, but there will be an independent review, the Transport Secretary has said.
Asked about the nature of the incident, Mark Harper told GB News: “This was a technical fault. We do not think this was a cybersecurity incident.
“And what will happen now with an incident of this magnitude is there will be an independent review.
“The Civil Aviation Authority will be putting together a report in the coming days, which obviously I will take a look at to see whether there are lessons to learn for the future, to see whether we can reduce the impact of this again.
“It’s nearly a decade since there was a significant issue like this.
“We want to make sure it doesn’t happen again, because of all the disruption that’s been caused to passengers across the country.”
Train operators rescue stranded airline passengers
07:30 , Maanya Sachdeva
Train operators have stepped in to assist passengers hit by airline cancellations.
LNER, which runs trains on the East Coast main line between London, Newcastle and Scotland, and the intercity operator TransPennine Express, are offering free rail travel for passengers returning to the UK who arrive at a different airport to their original destination.
Travellers must produce evidence of flight disruption.
Airlines make dozens more cancellations after severe disruptions on bank holiday
07:16 , Maanya Sachdeva
As airlines struggle to recover from the four-hour failure of the main air-traffic control system across the UK on Monday, airlines are making dozens more cancellations.
Britain’s biggest budget airline, easyJet, has grounded more than 80 flights on Tuesday. Three dozen are at Gatwick, including flights serving holiday destinations such as Athens and Venice.
In Scotland, Edinburgh is hard hit with 22 easyJet cancellations, including long flights to Rhodes and Tenerife. At Manchester, easyJet has grounded 14 flights.
The airline has also cancelled flights from Luton to and from Amsterdam, Malaga and Murcia.
British Airways has grounded more than 60 flights on Tuesday.
Ryanair, Europe’s biggest budget airline, has grounded about 40 departures, mainly from London Stansted and Edinburgh.
Full story here:
Everything you need to know about air-traffic control failure on Tuesday
Holidaymakers stuck in travel hell as UK flights grounded due to traffic control fault
07:15 , Namita Singh
Passengers tell The Independent their stories of the worst day of travel chaos since the Iceland volcano.
Holidaymakers stuck in travel hell as UK traffic control fault grounds flights
Passengers express frustration over flight cancellations
07:00 , Namita Singh
Passengers stuck in the UK and abroad described their frustration, as some had no idea when or how they would get to their destination.
Rory Dollard, 40, cricket correspondent for PA Media, was stuck at Bergerac Dordogne Perigord airport in France and was told it may take up to six days before he and his family – his wife Joanne, 40, and children Emily, 10, and Arthur, eight – could return home to Skipton, North Yorkshire.
Lyudmila Hristova, 57, said her and her husband’s plans to attend her niece’s wedding in Bulgaria were “ruined” after BA cancelled their 2pm flight from Heathrow to Sofia.
And a German couple were considering returning home by train after their flight from London to Stuttgart was cancelled.
Myria Mebold, 36, also said that British Airways “didn’t know anything at all” when she and her husband asked about the situation and their flight.
Major UK airlines such as Tui and BA warned of “significant delays” for passengers amid changes to schedules.
Passengers were urged by airlines to check before they leave for the airport as their flight times may have changed.
Heathrow Airport tweeted yesterday night: “We apologise for any inconvenience as a result of the Nats technical issues today.
“The issue has been resolved however schedules remain significantly disrupted. If you are travelling on 29th August, please ensure you contact your airline before travelling to the airport.”
Caught in the air-traffic control night? Your rights when flights go wrong
06:45 , Namita Singh
Hundreds of thousands of passengers booked to travel to or from the UK have had their flights cancelled or delayed after the air-traffic control system was hit by a technical issue.
Even though airlines are not to blame for the outage, the companies are obliges to care for passengers, writes our travel correspondent Simon Calder.
Caught in the air-traffic control nightmare? Your rights when flights go wrong
‘Preliminary analysis does not suggest cyber attack’
06:30 , Namita Singh
There is nothing to suggest that the technical issue leading to flight delays was the result of a cyber attack, reported PA News, adding that the authorities are investigating the matter.
Meanwhile, Juliet Kennedy, operations director at National Air Traffic Services (Nats), the country’s leading provider of air traffic control, apologised for the flight delays and its impact on people’s travel plans.
Holidaymakers were hit by bank holiday travel delays, which started on Monday after a UK air traffic control failure meant flight plans had to be input manually by controllers.
The issue meant the automatic system that provides controllers with details of every aircraft and its route had stopped working, explained Ms Kennedy, adding that what happened will be investigated “very thoroughly”.
“Instead, to manage safety, we had to limit the number of flights we could manage,” she said.
“Our teams worked hard to resolve the problem, and I’m pleased to say it was fixed earlier on this afternoon. However, it will take some time for flights to return to normal.
“And we will continue to work with the airlines and the airports to recover the situation. Our absolute priority is safety and we will be investigating very thoroughly what happened today.
“Again, I would like to apologise for the impact on the travelling public and to tell you that our teams will continue to work to get you on your way as soon as we can.”
What to do if your UK flight has been delayed today
06:15 , Namita Singh
Hundreds of thousands of passengers face major flight delays and cancellations after a technical issue hit UK air traffic control systems on Bank Holiday Monday.
My colleague Rachel Flynn reports on what to do to better deal with delays:
UK flight delays: What to do if you’re flying today
Aviation analytics firm releases data on Monday’s flight delays
06:00 , Namita Singh
Yesterday’s technical issues led to the cancellation of 232 flights departing from UK airports, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Another 271 arriving flights had to be cancelled, it said.
This equates to about eight per cent of all expected departures and nine per cent of expected arrivals for a single day at UK airports, Cirium added.
British Airways advises passengers to check flight status before leaving for airport
05:30 , Namita Singh
British Airways said it had to make “significant changes” to its schedule and advised passengers booked on short-haul flights yesterday not to go to airports without confirming their flight status.
Aviation analyst Alastair Rosenschein, a former BA pilot, said the air traffic system appeared to have suffered “some kind of patchy failure as opposed to a total shutdown.”
He told Sky News that “the disruption will be quite severe at some airports” and some UK-bound flights would likely have to land in other European countries in order to reduce the flow of inbound planes.
Passengers warned of ‘very high’ delays
05:00 , Namita Singh
European air traffic authority Eurocontrol warned of “very high” delays, and airports both inside and outside the UK told passengers to expect waits and cancellations. Passengers scheduled to fly to Britain from European airports said they were being told to expect delays of several hours or more.
Dozens of flights were canceled at Heathrow, Europe’s busiest air hub, which urged passengers “to only travel to the airport if their flight is confirmed as still operating.”
“Teams across Heathrow are working as hard as they can to minimise the knock-on impacts and assist those whose journeys have been affected,” it said in a statement.
Delays caused by breakdown in automatic flight plan processing
04:30 , Namita Singh
National Air Traffic Services (Nats) says the outage has hit its ability to process flight plans automatically, meaning the plans had to be input manually, a much slower process.
It did not disclose the cause of the problem.
The service said it had “applied traffic flow restrictions to maintain safety” but that UK airspace remained open.
After fixing the problem, Nats said it was “working closely with airlines and airports to manage the flights affected as efficiently as possible.“Our engineers will be carefully monitoring the system’s performance as we return to normal operations.”
UK air traffic control says technical problem ‘remedied’ as passengers left stranded
04:10 , Namita Singh
Thousands of airline passengers faced delays on Monday after Britain’s air traffic control system was hit by a breakdown that slowed takeoffs and landings across the UK on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
More than three hours after it reported the “technical issue”, flight control operator National Air Traffic Services said it had “identified and remedied” the problem and flights could begin to return to normal.
But scores of flights were canceled, and Heathrow Airport said its schedules would be “significantly disrupted” for the rest of the day.
Lyudmila Hristova said she and her husband had planned to attend a niece’s wedding in Bulgaria, but their flight from Heathrow was canceled.
“Now we are looking for some information on how we can arrange another flight,” she said. “It is so difficult, they just got us out of the airport, it was very rude. There was no information, just some leaflets and that’s it.”
What legal rights do passengers have after air traffic control chaos?
03:00 , Stephanie Cockroft
Passengers have been hit by delays and cancellations caused by air traffic control technical problems.
Under UK law, those affected have legal rights which oblige the airlines to provide support to customers flying from a UK airport, arriving in the country on an EU or UK airline, or arriving at an EU airport on a UK airline.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) website says that in the case of a “significant delay”, the airline must provide a reasonable amount of food and drink, commonly in the form of vouchers, refunds for the cost of calls, and accommodation for passengers stuck overnight and transport to a hotel or their home.
A significant delay is defined as more than two hours for a short-haul flight of under 1,500km, more than three hours for medium haul of up to 3,500km, and more than four hours for long-haul flights.
The CAA accepts airlines are sometimes unable to organise such support, so passengers should make their own “reasonable” arrangements and keep receipts to claim money back, but the authority adds that “luxury hotels and alcohol” are unlikely to be paid for.
Airlines are required to pay compensation if flights arrive more than three hours late, but only when it is their fault, meaning the air traffic control problems could fall under the definition of “exceptional circumstances”, meaning the carriers are exempt from paying out.
Pilot ‘hasn’t seen such chaos in 20 years’
02:15 , Stephanie Cockroft
A retired barrister who is stuck in Sardinia claimed an easyJet pilot said he had not seen an incident like this in 20 years.
Gemma Saleh, 43, who teaches part-time at law school and lives in Newcastle, said she boarded an easyJet flight with her family at 11.30am Sardinia time (10.30am London time), which was heading for Gatwick, and she remained on the plane for close to two hours.
She said: “We were told as we started to taxi there was an issue with the air traffic computer but he didn’t know more and we’d wait on the tarmac until we got a slot.
“[The pilot] also said as we are ‘rescue’ we would be able to find a slot soon, maybe 30 mins.
“He’s not seen this in 20 years.”
In pictures: Heathrow airport
01:30 , Stephanie Cockroft
Here are some photographs from Heathrow airport, which was hardest hit by Monday’s travel chaos:
Diabetic traveller says he’s run out of my night-time insulin and fears he’ll be stranded for days
Tuesday 29 August 2023 00:50 , Stephanie Cockroft
Azad Azeez, who is diabetic, was due to fly back from Gibraltar on Monday after already rearranging a flight days earlier due to thunderstorms over France.
He told The Independent the next available flight would be on 3 September – almost a week later.
He said: “Our flight back home from Gibraltar was due to leave on Thursday 24/8 but was cancelled due to thunderstorms over France. The next available flight back wasn’t until today and now we’re sitting at the airport as our flights have been cancelled again due to the air traffic failure, we have little to no money left and it’s looking like we won’t be able to get a seat till Sunday 3/9.”
Talking about his health fears, he added: “We have no idea what we’re going to do for accommodation at this point as they want us to pay for it and claim back after.
“I’ve already missed 3 days of work and now will miss another week. I’m type 1 diabetic and have run out of my night time insulin. My sensor will die in 4 days with no way of getting another one. No one seems to be of any help.”
Traffic control failure will be investigated ‘very thoroughly’
Tuesday 29 August 2023 00:20 , Stephanie Cockroft
The UK air traffic control failure will be investigated “very thoroughly”, according to the National Air Traffic Services.
Juliet Kennedy, operations director at Nats, said in a tweeted statement: “Our teams worked hard to resolve the problem, and I’m pleased to say it was fixed earlier on this afternoon. However, it will take some time for flights to return to normal.
“And we will continue to work with the airlines and the airports to recover the situation. Our absolute priority is safety and we will be investigating very thoroughly what happened today.”
‘We could not believe there were no flights for the next three days’
Monday 28 August 2023 23:30 , Stephanie Cockroft
Another airline passenger told The Independent that she and her travel partner, would lose around £1,000 after having to miss work as a result of the system failure.
Dainora Daugvilaite, who was due to fly from Nice to Gatwick on Monday with easyJet, said they had also considered driving back to London after being unable to get Eurostar tickets.
She said: “We looked for all possible solutions, such as flying to other airports, but there are no other flights to any directions provided by easyJet until this Thursday.
“We thought of taking a bus to Paris and taking the train from Paris, but there are no train tickets provided by Eurostar left either. We even thought of driving back to London for 15 hours but who would lend us a car to cross the border?”
She added: “In the end we gave up and booked a flight with 1 change to London through Amsterdam. We hope that our hotel and meals will be reimbursed. However, as I’m self-employed I’m losing 3 days of work. My partner does not have any holiday allowance left either so together we are losing over £1,000.
“I understand that situations as such happens, but we could not believe that there were no flights for the next three days.”
‘They have very little money left and will have to sleep rough’
Monday 28 August 2023 22:55 , Stephanie Cockroft
The Independent has been contacted by scores of passengers who are stranded at airports around the country.
One, David Faulkner, said his son and his three friends were due to return from Palma to Bristol with easyJet on Monday but had been left “stranded” with the airline apparently saying the next earliest flight available would be in a week’s time.
He said: “Easyjet have done nothing for any of them. No food, water and no arrangements for hotels. They have been told to find accommodation as the earliest flight is next Monday. A whole week!”
He added: “They have very little money left and will have to sleep rough with nothing but dirty clothes. They cannot get through to easyJet and the British Consulate was closed. Other flights are impossible to find and costs of going elsewhere or via other countries is astronomical.”
Technical failure hits Heathrow the hardest
Monday 28 August 2023 22:20 , Stephanie Cockroft
The worst hit airport on Monday for flight delays and cancellations was London Heathrow, with 312 arrivals and departures cancelled, just ahead of London Gatwick on 300, Simon Calder writes.
The Heathrow figure includes a number of long-haul flights, including transatlantic departures to Chicago, Philadelphia and Toronto.
Further flight cancellations have been made at Heathrow on Tuesday, due to the number of planes and crew out of position.
Bank holiday flight cancellations top 1,200 – with 200,000 passengers stranded or delayed
Monday 28 August 2023 21:45 , Stephanie Cockroft
In the worst single day’s disruption to UK flying since the Icelandic volcano in 2010, an estimated 200,000 passengers will be waking up on Tuesday morning where they did not intend to be, Simon Calder writes.
On one of the busiest days of the year for travellers, the UK air-traffic control system failed for several hours – grounding more than 1,200 flights, and delaying thousands more.
The Independent has calculated the figures using information from the aviation data service Flightradar24.
50,000 passengers hit by Gatwick cancellations alone – Simon Calder
Monday 28 August 2023 21:27 , Stephanie Cockroft
At least 300 flights have been cancelled to and from the UK’s second-busiest airport, London Gatwick, as a result of Monday’s air-traffic control failure.
The Independent has identified more than 200 cancellations on easyJet alone, including many longer flights to destinations including Egypt, Turkey and Cyprus.
British Airways has grounded around 30 flights to and from Gatwick, including multiple flights to the Canary Islands and Turkey.
Vueling, Wizz Air, Ryanair, Norwegian and TAP Portugal also cancelled flights.
Londoner Julian Eccles has lost half of his four-day trip to central Italy and Lake Garda. His easyJet flight from Gatwick to Ancona was cancelled and he had to book with TUI to Verona on Wednesday morning instead.
British journalist faces being stuck in France for up to six days
Monday 28 August 2023 21:02 , Andy Gregory
A British journalist who faces being stuck in France for up to six days due to the technical issue affecting air traffic control systems said there is uncertainty over who will pay for the extended stay.
Rory Dollard, 40, cricket correspondent at PA Media, said he and other passengers stuck at Bergerac Dordogne Perigord Airport have heard “absolutely nothing” about what caused the technical fault, which led to his Ryanair flight not taking off.
He added that he was told it may take up to six days before he and his family – wife Joanne, 40, and children Emily, 10, and Arthur, eight – can return home to Skipton, North Yorkshire.
He said: “I’ve never been in a situation like this before and because of the language barrier, it’s hard to work out exactly who’s responsible for which part of the cost.
“If you need to find a hotel for the next five/six nights, who’s paying for this? Is it Ryanair? Is it your insurer? Is it somebody else?”
He added that he could miss covering three England matches, while his wife, who is a social worker, could face delays to “important cases”.
‘Beyond fed up’: Family stuck in Rome until Wednesday
Monday 28 August 2023 20:38 , Andy Gregory
Gemma Breslaw, her husband and their two children – aged four and five – had been told they were facing “awful” delays of 12 hours at the airport in Rome, where they witnessed “lots of angry people shouting at the staff”.
However, they were eventually told their flight was cancelled hours after their planned take-off time.
Despite having found a hotel in Rome, the family were unable to find a flight to take them back to Gatwick until 7am on Wednesday. Describing herself as “beyond fed up and annoyed”, she told The Independent: “Who wants that flight with two little kids?!”
But she joked that she would try to enjoy Rome from their Marriot Park hotel while her husband “moans about [missing] work”.
‘Some time’ before flights return to normal, warns NATS
Monday 28 August 2023 20:15 , Andy Gregory
National Air Traffic Services’ operations director Juliet Kennedy has issued a new video statement.
She said: “First of all, I’d like to apologise for the impact on people’s travel plans today. The issue we had earlier meant that our automatic system which provides controllers with details of every aircraft and its route wasn’t working. Instead, to manage safety, we had to limit the number of flights we could manage.
“Our teams worked hard to resolve the problem and I’m pleased to say it was fixed earlier on this afternoon. However it will take some time for flights to return to normal. And we will continue to work with the airlines and the airports to recover the situation.
“Our absolute priority is safety and we will be investigating very thoroughly what happened today.”
Surrey GP stuck in France with no replacement flight for three days
Monday 28 August 2023 19:54 , Andy Gregory
David Hill, a 61 year old GP in Surrey, and his wife had been staying with friends in the south of France for a weekend break, and he had been set to fly home from Nice at 7:45pm in order to be back for appointments with his patients at 8:30am until 7pm on Tuesday.
But as the chaos unfolded, the Hills were faced with hours of uncertainty. As their departure time changed initially to 6am on Tuesday, they booked a hotel for the night – but were told shortly afterwards that their flight had been changed again to 2am, before it was again shifted to 4:30am.
Eventually, their flight was cancelled, with no replacements available until Thursday and EasyJet saying they were unable to help them find a hotel, Mr Hill told The Independent.
BA has cancelled more than 150 flights from Heathrow
Monday 28 August 2023 19:29 , Simon Calder
The Independent has calculated from the British Airways website that BA has cancelled more than 150 flights from its main base, London Heathrow.
At least three transatlantic flights have been grounded: to Chicago, Philadelphia and Toronto.
Among domestic and European destinations, the routes with the most cancellations linked Heathrow with: Amsterdam, Athens, Edinburgh, Milan, Nice and Paris.
BA says all customers travelling today and tomorrow can rebook flights for later date
Monday 28 August 2023 19:02 , Andy Gregory
British Airways has said that any customers due to travel today or tomorrow can move their flights to a later date free of charge, subject to availability.
The airline said in a statement: “Like all airlines using UK airspace, our flights have been severely disrupted as a result of a major issue experienced by NATS Air Traffic Control on Monday 28 August. While NATS has now resolved the issue, it has created significant and unavoidable delays and cancellations.
“If you are due to fly with us on Monday 28 August, please do not travel to the airport without checking the status of your flight, as it may no longer be operating. You can do this by visiting Manage My Booking and checking your email inbox.
“If you are at the airport waiting to board your flight, please continue to check flight information boards and your email for further updates.
“Any customers due to travel on Monday 28 August or Tuesday 29 August can move their flights free of charge to a later date, subject to availability. We are also rebooking customers onto alternative airlines where possible and have stood up additional colleagues in our call centres to assist our customers.”
Man confronted with prospect of 12-hour delays after being mugged on holiday
Monday 28 August 2023 18:35 , Andy Gregory
David Miller, a 47-year-old, had been especially keen to get home to Chester having been mugged on holiday in Barcelona – only to find himself facing 12-hour delays upon arriving at the airport.
While the captain of their British Airways flight ordered passengers to embark anyway in the hope of securing an earlier departure slot, he had warned those onboard to brace for a delay of at least four hours, despite being told that some of the NATS systems had been brought back online.
While he was expected back at work on Tuesday, Mr Miller told The Independent that if his flight landed too late, he would be forced to stay overnight at Heathrow.
Mr Miller praised the pilot for keeping passengers well updated, and sounded unperturbed by the wait himself as he joked: “Everyone’s jovial, the air con’s on.”
Stranded German couple consider taking train from London to Stuttgart
Monday 28 August 2023 18:22 , Andy Gregory
A German couple are considering returning home by train after their flight from London to Stuttgart was cancelled as a result of the UK’s air traffic control chaos.
“We are waiting for any information and checking if we can go back by train or anything, I don’t know. Somehow we have to get back home,” said Myria Mebold, 36.
Asked if BA was helpful she replied: “No, they didn’t know anything at all. They said the system doesn’t work and they can’t give any information and we have to come back at 6pm and maybe then they can give more information.
“It was a nice day in London but now it is starting to get annoying.”
She said the flight had been delayed to leave the UK after 1am on Tuesday, but planes cannot land at Stuttgart during the night.
My flight from a UK or EU airport is cancelled. What can I expect?
Monday 28 August 2023 18:09 , Simon Calder
Whatever the cause of a cancellation, and regardless of the amount of notice that is given, you can insist upon replacement transport: the airline must get you to your destination as soon as possible if that is what you want. The UK Civil Aviation Authority says that means that, if a flight is available on the original day of travel, the passenger must be booked on it – even if it is on a rival carrier.
You are entitled to “re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity”.
The term “re-routing” is unhelpful, since it implies finding a different route to the destination. On a link such as Manchester-Dublin or Barcelona-Gatwick, with around a dozen flights a day on multiple airlines, there may be no need to change the route.
If you are flown to a different arrival airport, the airline must also meet reasonable onward travel costs. If you are flown to Luton rather than Gatwick, you could claim the £38 train fare but not a £150 taxi (unless you are in a party of four).
On occasion a train (eg Eurostar from Amsterdam, Brussels or Paris to London) or even a rental car may be more appropriate.
You have two further options. The first is an alternative flight at a time to suit you in the future – though the cancelling airline can reasonably require you to travel on one of its services. The other is a full refund, including any return segment if it is on the same ticket.
Flights still affected despite resolution of technical issue, transport secretary acknowledges
Monday 28 August 2023 17:59 , Andy Gregory
Transport secretary Mark Harper has acknowledged that, despite the technical issue being resolved, “flights are still unfortunately affected”.
What to do if your UK flight has been delayed today
Monday 28 August 2023 17:30 , Andy Gregory
Your airline has to let you choose between a refund or an alternative flight if your flight is covered by UK law, regardless of when the cancellation is announced.
You are also entitled to refreshments if you’re stuck at the airport for a prolonged amount of time.
My colleague Rachel Flynn has more details here:
UK flight delays: What to do if you’re flying today
Flights at Heathrow to remain ‘significantly disrupted’
Monday 28 August 2023 17:16 , Andy Gregory
Flights will remain “significantly disrupted” for the rest of Monday despite the technical issue with air traffic control being resolved, a spokesperson for Heathrow Airport said.
They said: “We ask passengers to only travel to the airport if their flight is confirmed as still operating.
“Teams across Heathrow are working as hard as they can to minimise the knock-on impacts and assist those whose journeys have been affected.”
Watch: What is happening with the bank holiday flight disruption?
Monday 28 August 2023 17:04 , Andy Gregory
What happens next if my airline says it can’t deliver an alternative flight today?
Monday 28 August 2023 16:56 , Simon Calder
If the cancelling carrier does not carry out its duty, obliging you to make your own arrangements, then you can expect reasonable costs to be refunded.
That means booking the cheapest alternative ticket possible, staying in a budget hotel if there is one, etc. You must keep all your receipts, of course.
If the alternative travel is expensive (eg only business class is available) you will need to be able to show evidence of that, perhaps with screenshots.
Caught in the air-traffic control nightmare? Your rights when flights go wrong
Monday 28 August 2023 16:55 , Andy Gregory
Hundreds of thousands of passengers booked to travel to or from the UK have had their flights cancelled or delayed after the air-traffic control system was hit by a technical issue.
Here, The Independent’s travel expert Simon Calder explains what you can do if you are caught up in the chaos:
Caught in the air-traffic control nightmare? Your rights when flights go wrong
11-year-old boy ‘over the moon’ as pilot on grounded plane gives him tour of cockpit
Monday 28 August 2023 16:54 , Andy Gregory
With planes grounded, pilots have been keeping families entertained on the tarmac by giving children tours of the cockpit while they wait for news of a possible departure.
Gwen Magarotto told The Independent that her son Spencer and his family were forced to “sit it out” on the tarmac at Corfu after their flight to Exeter was delayed.
But for her 11-year-old grandson Danny, who “adores planes”, the experience became the “highlight of his holiday” after the “kind” pilot allowed him to sit in the plane’s cockpit while explaining what all of the various dials and mechanisms were.
Ms Margarotto said her grandson had been “over the moon”, but was soon left “freezing” once their plane finally touched down back in Exeter following their holiday in the Greek sun.
An ‘absolute nightmare’: F1 fans ‘stranded in Schiphol Airport’
Monday 28 August 2023 16:46 , Andy Gregory
Ashleigh Blaney, a 34-year-old finance assistant from Glasgow had been in Amsterdam watching the Dutch Grand Prix with her brother, both of whom are now “currently stranded in Schiphol Airport”.
While they had been due to fly to Glasgow at 1:45pm, they were notified eventually at 3pm that their EasyJet flight had been cancelled.
Ms Blaney told The Independent that they had been queueing for over an hour in border control in an attempt to exit the airport, and that no one could tell them where they could pick up their checked-in luggage, describing the situation as an “absolute nightmare”.
While they have managed to rebook their flight tomorrow, it will arrive in Edinburgh instead – and there are no hotels available on the EasyJet app, Ms Blaney said.
Her brother, who had been due to fly to Gran Canaria at 6am tomorrow, will no longer be able to make his trip.
‘A happy travel story’: Gabby Logan ‘boarded and heading home’
Monday 28 August 2023 16:34 , Andy Gregory
Broadcaster Gabby Logan, who earlier said she was facing possible delays of 12 hours, has now announced that she is “boarded and heading home”, adding: “We are very lucky to be flying home tonight.”
The presenter revealed previously that she was stuck on the runway at Budapest having been away from home for three weeks.
However, a fellow passenger on the flight – who said they had been planning “exotic rail journeys across Europe to get us back to the UK” while stuck in the terminal – has written to The Independent to say: “Don’t hold your breath” for take-off.
BA tells passengers no flights will take off until 6pm
Monday 28 August 2023 16:28 , Andy Gregory
British Airways told passengers on Monday afternoon that no flights would take off until 6pm and all check-in desks were closed.
Lawrence Sinclair, 26, who works for a holiday company, said he had to book on to a new BA flight to Gothenburg in Sweden, which leaves at 8.50pm, after his earlier flight was cancelled.
He said: “I don’t know if the later flight is going to go or not. I was supposed to go at 3.50pm. Hopefully I will fly at 8.50pm but that is going to be delayed, isn’t it. It’s annoying, I’m going to see my girlfriend in Sweden, but if I don’t go today I’ll go tomorrow.”
A diary of disruption
Monday 28 August 2023 16:25 , Simon Calder
Cass Helstrip, managing director of White Tiger PR was booked to depart from Biarritz to London Stansted at 4.20pm today with her husband and four-year-old. This is how her day unfolded:
1pm: We caught the bus from San Sebastián to Biarritz airport and arrived. Sat down and reading emails only to see an alert re all airspace being shut in UK. Nothing on Ryanair app or at airport.
1.30pm: Husband Al started Googling news and seeing that planes being delayed / cancelled. I was refreshing Ryanair app constantly – nothing. Panicking!
1.50pm: Al noticed Ryanair website reporting flights being cancelled due to ATC – still nothing on Ryanair app.
2.30pm: Get first notification through on app which is that flights are cancelled. Suggests changing flight but app not working properly so unable to change flight.
2.40pm: I am trying to speak to Ryanair on chat to change flight urgently seeing everyone else around me panicking and trying to book new flights. Ryanair chat crashes and can’t get hold of anyone anymore.
2.42pm: Husband realised hotel prices going through roof so books cosmopolitan hotel for £180 – other people who booked 10 mins after us couldn’t get anything for less than £300.
2.45pm: Lady has spoken to Ryanair and says because of backlog of flights flight that we are likely to be able to reschedule to will be delayed / cancelled.
2.50pm: Refresh app and now it’s working to ‘change flights’ but now all flights are full for Tuesday. We panic and realise we will need to train and the trains will likely fill as well. We book trains from Biarritz to Paris (£350) at 10am tomorrow morning and then book Eurostar – website crashes as well and price goes up an extra £170 based on demand. We pay £550 for Eurostar tickets for tomorrow at 16.15 for 2 adults and 1 x four year old.
3pm: Email alert comes through from Ryanair saying flight is delayed till 17.50 – causes mass confusion and everyone panics having paid hundreds of pounds to book alternate flights etc.
3.15 Email comes through saying flight is cancelled. We sit in dismay for a bit deciding safest to wait a little longer before leaving. Leave airport at 15.45 and now at hotel.
Suella Braverman offers sympathies to those facing disruption
Monday 28 August 2023 16:20 , Andy Gregory
Home secretary Suella Braverman has offered her sympathy with anyone impacted by the air traffic control problems.
“This issue is evolving right now, as we speak,” she told broadcasters. “What we do know is that there has been a national outage at national air traffic control and that this has affected UK air space.
“It will affect all incoming and outgoing flights and also those aircraft which are in the UK air space right now.
“I am very cognisant that this will disrupt people’s travel plans – those who are waiting to arrive in the UK, those waiting to depart, and I do sympathise with any disruption they may be experiencing.”
BA urges short-haul passengers not to travel to airport without checking flight
Monday 28 August 2023 16:05 , Andy Gregory
British Airways has urged short-hall passengers not to travel to the airport without checking whether their flight has been cancelled, as the airline warned of “significant change” to its schedule.
In a statement, BA said: “Like all airlines using UK airspace, our flights are being severely disrupted my a major issue affected NATS Air Traffic Control.
“As a result, we have had to make a significant change to our schedule today. If you are travelling on a short-haul service today, Monday August 28, please do not travel to the airport without checking the status of your flight, as it may no longer be operating.”
Breaking: Technical issue ‘identified and remedied’, National Air Traffic Services says
Monday 28 August 2023 15:57 , Andy Gregory
National Air Traffic Services (Nats) has “identified and remedied” the technical issue which has caused hundreds of flights to be cancelled, the company has announced.
“We are now working closely with airlines and airports to manage the flights affected as efficiently as possible,” the company said in a statement. “Our engineers will be carefully monitoring the system’s performance as we return to normal operations.
“The flight planning issue affected the system’s ability to automatically process flight plans, meaning that flight plans had to be processed manually which cannot be done at the same volume, hence the requirement for traffic flow restrictions.
“Our priority is always to ensure that every flight in the UK remains safe and we are sincerely sorry for the disruption this is causing. Please contact your airline for information on how this may affect your flight.”
More than 500 flights to and from UK cancelled so far
Monday 28 August 2023 15:33 , Simon Calder
As engineers work to fix the air-traffic control system failure, the scale of the travel chaos is becoming apparent.
The aviation analyst Cirium says 232 flights have been cancelled departing UK airports so far today, equivalent to around 8 per cent of all departures.
Inbound to the UK, 271 flights have been cancelled arriving into UK airports – equivalent to around 9 per cent of arrivals.
Those numbers are certain to increase as delays extend – leading to pilots and cabin crew running “out of hours” in which they are able to fly.
Tui warns of ‘significant delays’
Monday 28 August 2023 15:25 , Andy Gregory
Tui has warned of “significant delays” due to the air traffic control outage.
In a reply to a passenger asking if their flight on Tuesday morning is likely to be delayed, Tui posted on Twitter/X, saying: “Due to an air traffic control outage across UK airports, we expect that this may cause significant delays to some of our flights.
“We would like to advise customers to monitor the departure boards or your emails for further updates. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
UK airspace ‘remains open’, says transport secretary
Monday 28 August 2023 15:17 , Andy Gregory
Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:
The transport secretary has said UK airspace “remains open” but restrictions are in place.
Mark Harper said: “UK airspace remains open but traffic flow restrictions are in place. NATS is working at pace to fix this and Aviation Minister Charlotte Vere and I are doing all we can to support them.
“In the meantime, passengers should contact their airline for up to date flight information.”
Which other airports were hit hardest by cancellations?
Monday 28 August 2023 22:03 , Stephanie Cockroft
Here’s Simon Calder’s analysis of the other UK airports worst-hit by Monday’s technical failure.
Manchester had 162 flights cancelled. Its sister airport, London Stansted, saw 104 grounded. Both Edinburgh and Luton airports had 102 cancellations. Belfast International, Bristol and Birmingham airports all had more than 50 cancelled flights.
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