Fresh UK Air Traffic Control Fault Causes Flight Delays at Several Airports

Flights at several British airports were delayed on Monday due to an air traffic control fault, the UK’s air traffic control provider NATS announced. The incident came less than two weeks after a previous problem halted flights across the country.

Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast airports experienced delays, which NATS said were linked to a problem at its Prestwick center in Scotland, while London Gatwick and London City airports said there would be some disruption.

British Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, who has been reviewing the future of NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe after repeated failures, said the problem had now been fixed and systems were restarting.

Ryanair said 25,000 of its passengers were facing delays as a result of Monday’s problem and repeated its calls for Rolfe to resign.

Rival airline easyJet said it had cancelled several flights, while British Airways warned its customers they were likely to experience disruption on Monday.