Many flights suffered major delays this Monday, August 28, due to an incident with the British authorities in charge of regulating air traffic.

TO “Technical problem”, flight plans that must be entered manually, and cascading delays. Many flights to and from the United Kingdom are experiencing major delays this Monday, August 28, due to an incident that has been identified and corrected, British air traffic control authorities said.

“We currently have a technical problem and have implemented traffic (flight) restrictions for safety reasons.», announced the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) in a press release published shortly after noon. “Until our engineers resolve this issue, flight plans are entered manually, which means we cannot process them at the same rate.”they clarified.

In a new press release issued mid-afternoon, NATS said it had “Identified and resolved the technical problem”. “We are now working with airlines and airports to manage the affected flights as best as possible” for this failure, according to this press release.

An extra Eurostar this Monday night

The country's largest airport, Heathrow, said it “We work closely” with air traffic authorities and other airports to “minimize the impact” of the damage to the passengers. “We are seeing delays and cancellations are likely”, Gatwick airport reported on the X network (formerly Twitter). “Like all airlines using British airspace, our flights are being seriously disrupted by a major issue affecting air traffic control,” British Airways warned. “We had to make significant changes to our program today”he stressed.

Many other airlines, including Easyjet and Ryanair, have also announced delays and cancellations, and reports of stranded travelers across Europe are increasing. Especially since this incident occurs because this Monday is a holiday in the United Kingdom and concludes a long weekend for the British, many of whom have returned from vacation. “Currently on a plane on the runway at Budapest airport.” writes, for example, BBC presenter Gabby Logan. “They have just told us that the airspace is closed. “We could stay there for 12 hours.”added on the X network (formerly Twitter).

For its part, the Eurostar railway company has indicated that an additional train between Paris and London will be put into service on Monday afternoon. “due to disruptions affecting airlines in the UK”.