NI Airports Back To Normal After Air Traffic Problems

The UK's main air traffic control centre hit major problems yesterday, stranding hundreds of Ulster air passengers.

They faced frustrating delays when a computer fault paralysed the system and led to thousands more travellers being hit at airports across Great Britain when the network went down just before 4pm on Thursday.

The glitch grounded flights and sparked travel chaos at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton, while disruption was also reported earlier in the day at Cardiff, Bristol, Southampton, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Northern Ireland's three airports reported cancellations and delays but said passengers were moved onto other flights.

However, the network was declared functioning by air traffic officials at 7pm last night, three hours after the breakdown.

The problems at the £623 million system at Swanwick Air Traffic Control Centre in Hampshire continued to lead to restrictions on the number of planes entering UK airspace as well as those taking off from major national airports.

In NI, a spokesman for George Best Belfast City Airport said cancellations had hit planes scheduled for Birmingham, Cardiff and Heathrow.

He said: "That's a few hundred passengers - but there were no major complaints and no long queues. Everyone understood it was out of our hands."

The spokesman added that all passengers were put on later flights to their planned destinations.

Belfast International Airport last night said eight flights to London could be affected as well as six to Europe. The City of Derry Airport reported only slight delays to flights.

Privatised company National Air Traffic Services said the restrictions on take-offs and landings were for passenger safety, while controllers operated with manual systems at reduced capacity.

It insisted Scottish and Manchester airspace were working normally and that only sectors controlled from the London area control centre were affected.

Although things are getting back to normal this morning, concerned passengers are still advised to contact their airlines before travelling and current flight information is available from all airports' websites.

(BMcC)