A computer failure at a British air-traffic control centre grounded many of the country’s flights on Thursday morning, delaying thousands of travellers.
The National Air Traffic Service said its computer system went down at about 6am local time, halting flights at airports across the country. The system was running again two hours later, but airports said the backlog of flights would cause delays throughout the day.
”Our computer system is now fully operational and safety being our primary concern we are now working to make sure those aircraft in the air and in need of landing should be able to do so to clear the delays,” said air traffic spokesperson Adrian Yalland.
He said the fault is believed to have originated at an operations centre in West Drayton, near Heathrow airport, which controls air traffic over southeast England and all planes into and out of London’s airports.
All flights were suspended at Heathrow, Britain’s busiest airport. An airport spokesperson said departing flights were facing delays of between one and two hours.
At Gatwick, flights were landing normally but departures were operating ”in a very restricted flow rate”, a spokesperson said.
Delays were running at two or three hours early on Thursday at Stansted Airport north of London, a major hub for budget airlines connecting Britain and the European continent.
At Manchester airport, a spokesperson said flights were grounded for about an hour. However, delays continued because of a backlog.
British Airways said there would be ”severe delays throughout the day”.
The air traffic service has been beset by problems since it was partially privatised in 2001. A £263-million centre at Swanwick in southern England opened five years late in 2002.
The opening was delayed by problems with computer software, and the glitches continued for months afterward, as controllers misread aircraft altitudes and destinations because of hard-to-decipher computer screens. In at least one case, controllers mistook the Scottish city of Glasgow for Cardiff in Wales.
The company also was hit financially by the fall in transatlantic traffic following the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks.
Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said Thursday’s problem did not lie at Swanwick but at the older West Drayton centre, which is due to be closed by 2007.
”If you want to know what is wrong with transport in this country it is that over decades successive governments did not spend enough on the infrastructure and air-traffic control is no different,” Darling told BBC radio.
However, he added: ”The air-traffic control system in this country is very good compared with other countries. We are putting the money in, it is making a difference.” — Sapa-AP