UK air traffic glitch sparks travel chaos, Gulf airlines face knock-on disruption

A major technical failure in Britain's air traffic control system has thrown the country's aviation network into chaos, cancelling around 1,300 flights and raising the prospect of delays to Gulf airline services to and from the UK as carriers struggle to clear a huge backlog of aircraft and passengers.

The disruption, which affected major airports including London Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham and Stansted, was caused by a fault in the flight-processing system operated by National Air Traffic Services (NATS), Britain's air navigation service provider.

NATS said late Tuesday that the system problem had been resolved and that it was operating normally, but warned that recovery would take time as airlines and airports worked to clear the backlog. Flightradar24 reported about 1,300 cancellations on Tuesday, with another 177 cancellations already recorded for Wednesday, most of them at Heathrow.

The disruption is particularly significant for Gulf carriers because London Heathrow is a major long-haul hub for airlines such as Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, with multiple daily services connecting the UK with Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. Any prolonged restrictions at Heathrow can therefore have consequences well beyond Britain, affecting aircraft rotations and connecting passengers across the Gulf and Asia.

Emirates has already issued a travel advisory warning passengers that flights arriving at and departing from UK airports are being disrupted by the NATS technical failure. The airline has urged passengers to check their flight status and operational updates before travelling to the airport.

British Airways was among the carriers hardest hit, cancelling its entire short-haul schedule for Tuesday evening. EasyJet cancelled close to 100 flights, while Ryanair said more than 150,000 of its passengers had been affected by delays of up to eight hours.

The disruption also spilled beyond Britain's borders. Flights were diverted to airports including Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris and Düsseldorf, while airports in Ireland and continental Europe reported cancellations and delays linked to the UK restrictions. Dublin Airport alone reported more than 70 cancelled flights.