Birmingham Airport advises passengers amid UK air traffic control failure

Birmingham Airport has issued advice to passengers as air traffic controllers at airports across the UK are still facing the effects of a technical fault.

Birmingham Airport said that the effects of the air traffic system failure can take days to “wash out”. Travel chaos has continued today (Tuesday, August 29) with several flights being cancelled after the countrywide air traffic system failure yesterday.

On Tuesday (August 29), Birmingham Airport said X, formerly knowns as Twitter: “We expect full loads of passengers on flights in and out today, including on services rescheduled from yesterday. It may take some days for all the effects of Monday’s air traffic system failure to wash out. Customers are advised to monitor the latest info from their airlines.”

Several flights were cancelled at Birmingham Airport today (Tuesday, August 29) including a flight to Glasgow, Bordeaux and Girona; while other flights were delayed.

Thousands of passengers are stranded at airports across the country - including some who are sat on their planes but now unable to take-off. There have also been complaints from passengers trying to get into the UK that their flight will be delayed due to the technical failure.

One passenger reported that he has been stuck on a plane, unable to take off for two hours yesterday on social media platform X. He said: “I was due to fly from Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport Rome at 12:25pm back to Birmingham Airport but have been stuck on the tarmac since then, not being allowed to take off. Currently we don’t know when we will fly or be let off the plane. Flying Jet2.”

Yesterday, the airport said it was working to understand what the impacts of the failure will have on flights out of Birmingham and advised passengers to check the latest information on their flights with airlines and on their website and screens in the terminal.

In an initial statement about the air traffic control technical failures Birmingham Airport said: “We’re working to understand the impacts of a UK-wide air traffic control failure, and timescales for it to be fixed. Customers due in or out of BHX are advised to monitor latest information from their airlines, live flight data on our website & on screens in our terminal.”

Loganair posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) about the issues yesterday, saying: “There has been a network-wide failure of UK air traffic control computer systems this morning.

“Although we are hopeful of being able to operate most intra-Scotland flights on the basis of local coordination and with a minimum of disruption, north-south and international flights maybe subject to delays.

“If you are flying with us today, please check our website for the latest information about your flight before setting off for the airport.”

One traveller has taken her frustrations on X, saying: “On a plane on the runway at Budapest airport…and have just been told UK airspace is shut. We could be here for 12 hours. So we sit on the plane and wait.”

The latest statement from NATS, the national air traffic controllers, said: “We have identified and remedied the technical issue affecting our flight planning system this morning. We are now working closely with airlines and airports to manage the flights affected as efficiently as possible. Our engineers will be carefully monitoring the system’s performance as we return to normal operations.

“The flight planning issue affected the system’s ability to automatically process flight plans, meaning that flight plans had to be processed manually which cannot be done at the same volume, hence the requirement for traffic flow restrictions. Our priority is always to ensure that every flight in the UK remains safe and we are sincerely sorry for the disruption this is causing. Please contact your airline for information on how this may affect your flight.”