Nearly 2,000 UK flights cancelled after major air traffic control outage

UK airports continued to face disruption on Wednesday after an air traffic control outage led to nearly 2,000 flight cancellations and stranded passengers across the country.

More than 1,750 flights arriving at or departing from UK airports were cancelled Tuesday, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium, and at least another 291 flights were cancelled Wednesday.

London Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted were among airports affected, along with Manchester.

Heathrow said flights “are operating” but warned disruption could continue while airlines “reposition aircraft and crew”.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander met National Air Traffic Services chief executive Martin Rolfe on Wednesday and raised “significant concerns at the scale of disruption”, according to Downing Street.

British Airways said it had “no choice” but to cancel more than 190 flights. Ryanair said 65,000 of its passengers were affected Tuesday, with more than 50 scheduled flights cancelled.

NATS said operations were “stable” Wednesday and confirmed a “full investigation” would examine the outage.

“We continue to work closely with airlines and airports to support their recovery,” NATS said.

The provider also reiterated its apology to passengers, airlines and airports affected by the disruption.