BackLondon air traffic chaos caused by unprecedented computer fault
The problem arose from a transition between operating and standby states, National Air Traffic Services said
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London: London’s airspace chaos that grounded flights in and out of the capital was triggered by an unprecedented computer-system failure.
The problem arose from a transition between operating and standby states, National Air Traffic Services (Nats)said in a statement on Saturday.
Controllers had full radar picture and communications with all aircraft and safety was not compromised at any time, according to Nats which is responsible for controlling British airspace.
“Flights out of Heathrow Airport, Europe’s busiest hub, returned to normal after 9:30am after 38 mostly short-haul flights were cancelled this morning," a spokesman for the airport said. “Further disruptions today can’t be ruled out," he said.
Friday’s computer fault, which occurred mid-afternoon local time, was due to a technical issue at the Swanwick air—traffic centre and didn’t involve a power outage, NATS said in an earlier statement. NATS restricted “traffic volumes in accordance with capability we currently have in our system."
The malfunction caused the cancellation of 50 flights at Heathrow. More than 140 departures, or about a quarter of flights, were delayed, according to aviation tracking website FlightAware.com.
“Disruption on this scale is simply unacceptable and I have asked Nats for a full explanation," transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin said in a statement.
Similar incidents
The fault, which also affected other airports in southern Britain and rippled as far north as Manchester, follows a series of similar incidents. In July last year, Nats had to restrict the number of aircraft flying across the south of England and those taking off from airports. Swanwick, on which Lockheed Martin Corp. was prime contractor, opened almost six years late in 2002 and at least 30% over budget after repeated software glitches.
London’s airports have sought to restore orderly service. Gatwick and London City flights will operate as normal, British Airways said in a statement on its website. A spokesman for London’s Stansted Airport said all flights were operating as normal today.
The Swanwick operations room manages the airspace over England and Wales up to the Scottish border as well as lower—altitude traffic to and from London’s airports. Heathrow airport and other terminals in southern England suffered disruption to flights in 2008 following a breakdown in the control system, based near Fareham, England.
The centre, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of London, was designed to give NATS 30% more capacity, helping it handle 3 million flights a year by 2020 from about 2 million when it opened.
—With assistance from Alan Levin in Washington, Andrea Rothman in Toulouse, Jillian Ward, Tom Beardsworth, Kari Lundgren and Christopher Jasper in London and Benedikt Kammel in Berlin.
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