Technical glitch triggers cancellation of 1,100 flights at UK airports

London: A technical fault has forced the cancellation of around 1,100 flights to and from UK airports.

The UK's air traffic control body said recovery from the system failure took longer than hoped, before confirming the glitch had been resolved and operations had returned to normal, with maximum efforts underway to clear the backlog.

Heathrow, the UK's largest and busiest airport, was among those affected, along with Gatwick, Liverpool, Birmingham and Edinburgh, while Dublin Airport also cancelled dozens of flights.

British Airways said it was forced to cancel or divert more than 100 flights, affecting tens of thousands of passengers, while Irish low‑cost carrier Ryanair said more than 65,000 passengers were affected and it had cancelled over 50 flights.

The disruption follows a technical failure last July that caused dozens of cancellations, though the worst UK air traffic control failure on record occurred in 2023, affecting more than 700,000 passengers.