A technical failure in the air control of the city of London has left all the scheduled flights with departure from the United Kingdom in the afternoon on Wednesday. Although the system has already been repaired, according to the British air authorities, delays of several hours that have affected the entire country have been accumulated.
“We have decided to limit the number of aircraft that survives London to be able to guarantee security,” said air control in a public statement.
Around six in the afternoon, during Spanish peninsular schedule, the main airports of the British capital – Heathrow, Gatwick and Stanstead – have announced that they gradually resumed their activity.
The British transport minister, Heidi Alexander, has assured that “they had been informed that all the systems had been restored, but that the disruption would continue.” Alexander has advised all the passengers to confirm the situation of his flight with the airlines.
National Air Traffic Services detected the origin of the failure in a technical problem located at the Swanwick control center in Southampton, on the southern coast of England.
All flights originating in it, that of Manchester, Edinburgh or Birmingham were canceled.
“We will continue working with the airlines and with the airport passengers to minimize the disruption caused,” said the air authorities in their last statement.
It rains on wet regarding the constant problems of London airports. Neal McMahon, Ryanair’s director of Operations, one of the companies with the highest number of flights originating in the United Kingdom, has lashed out against the head of the Nats Control Center, Martin Rolfe, and has directly claimed his resignation: “It is scandalous that the passengers are again affected with delays and disruptions because of the continuous poor management of Martin Rolfe in front of Nats. The air traffic control has had as a result the closure of the United Kingdom airspace, affecting the travel plans of thousands of people, ”said Ryanair’s manager. “It is clear that no lesson has been learned,” he finished, in reference to previous registered failures also in London.
The leader of the Democratic Liberal Party, Ed Davey, echoed the complaint of McMahon and demanded that the Government an independent investigation that clarified the origin of the problem: “It is completely unacceptable that, after two years ago we suffered a serious disruption, the air traffic control has once again suffered a technical failure. With thousands of families willing to begin a deserved rest, [las excusas o explicaciones] They are not enough, ”said Davey.
The Aviation Analytical Company Cirium assured, around half past six in the afternoon in Spanish peninsular schedule, that at least 45 departure flights and another 35 arrival had been canceled throughout the United Kingdom. The most affected airport had been that of Heathrow, in London, where 16 take -off and 7 landings, for the moment, had been suspended.
Many passengers who were already aboard the planes or in full flight when the problem has emerged have used social networks to denounce the situation. They have remained two or more hours sitting in their seats without being clear information about what was happening or when their flights would resume. On July 30, most of them began their holiday period on Wednesday, and have altered transport connections in many cases.
