Widespread flight delays hit major British airports

LONDON — Flights departing from at least two major British airports have been grounded following a “technical issue,” officials said Tuesday.

London’s Heathrow Airport said in a statement Tuesday that it was working with Britain’s National Air Traffic Service to resolve the issue, advising passengers to check with their airlines for more information regarding their flights.

“Arriving flights are not currently impacted,” Heathrow said, although it advised passengers to check flight times.

London Gatwick Airport also said on X that it had been affected, and further north, Manchester Airport took to social media to warn that the issue “may result in delays.” Edinburgh Airport in Scotland issued a similar warning.

After earlier blaming a “technical issue,” the National Air Traffic Service said in an update on X that it had located the cause of the problem “in our flight processing system.” Apologizing to passengers for the disruptions, it said its “engineers are on site and working urgently to resume normal operations as quickly as possible.”

With 84.5 million passengers last year, Heathrow ranked seventh in the table of the world’s busiest airports, according to data published by Airports Council International.

Travel from Heathrow was severely disrupted in March last year…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/world