UK Airspace Closed-EXPLOSION on Flight May Have Caused Closure
 

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Daily Mail UK, 12 December 2014


BREAKING NEWS: London Airspace Closed 'Until 7pm, GMT' Due to Computer Failure


The air space above London will be closed until 7pm GMT, tonight due to computer failure, it has been reported.


The closure has already caused delays to planes travelling in UK airspace due to a power outage at the UK air traffic control centre at Swanwick, Hampshire, air traffic management company Eurocontrol said.


Severe delays are expected to continue this evening, with potentially hundreds of flights affected.



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The air space above London will be closed until 7pm tonight due to computer failure, it has been reported. Above, a radar map of London at 3.30pm shows just a few planes lining up for Heathrow Airport


Swanwick controls aircraft in the 200,000 square miles of airspace above England and Wales, and was built to enable controllers to look after more planes and effectively expand UK airspace.
But since it opened 11 years ago, the £623m London Air Traffic Control Centre - which employs around 1,300 controllers - has experienced a number of technical difficulties, from computer glitches to faulty equipment.

The facility, which handles 5,000 flights every 24 hours, was delayed even before it opened, eventually taking over operations in January 2002 - six years after its planned commissioning date.

In a statement, NATS Holdings, the main air navigation service provider in the UK, said:

'NATS can confirm that a technical problem has been reported at Swanwick air traffic control centre
'We apologoise for any delays and our incident response team has been mobilised.
'Every possible action is being taken to assist in resolving the situation and to confirm the details.

'Further information will be released as it becomes available.

re: UK Airspace Closed-EXPLOSION on Flight May Have Caused Closure
 

Flights Disrupted after Computer Failure at UK Control Centre

Passengers are facing widespread flight disruption after a computer failure at the UK's air traffic control centre.


Nats confirmed a "technical problem" at its Swanwick control centre in Hampshire and said airspace remained opened but restricted.
It said "every possible action" was being taken to resolve the issue.
Heathrow reported delays and Gatwick said all its departing flights had been grounded. Other UK airports reported knock-on effects.

• At Heathrow Airport flights are "currently experiencing delays" and planes could be turned away
• Incoming flights to Gatwick are continuing to land and flights are now departing after being grounded earlier
• Stansted say it is currently working with Nats to find out how it will affect the airport
• Scotland, Ireland and Wales Airports are Affected

One source told the BBC the problem was caused by a computer glitch that co-ordinates the flights coming into London and puts the flights in sequence as they come into land or take off.
He described it as a "flight planning tool problem".


Reported problems around the country include:

• Heathrow: Flights are "currently experiencing delays" and planes could be turned away
• Gatwick: Flights are now departing but still subject to delays
• Stansted: Flights still landing, no flights departing
• Bristol: Limited departures reported
• Luton: All flights experiencing delays but planes now leaving
• Edinburgh: Experiencing delays on all south-bound flights
• Southampton: Experiencing ''problems''
• Oxford: Experiencing "some delays", mainly to services arriving from overseas
• Leeds Bradford: All flights out and most flights in suspended until 1900
• Aberdeen: Reported an "impact" on operations

BBC journalist Joe Inwood was at Luton Airport when the flights stopped

Manchester Airport said it was unaffected by the incident and was ready to accept diverted flights.

Vicky Lane, a passenger on a grounded London to Dublin plane at Gatwick said: "We've been stuck on a Ryanair flight... for over an hour.
"The doors are open and we're really cold. I'm not sure when we will be leaving."

Aviation journalist David Learmount said the IT problem would cause "major disruption" but would be resolved by Saturday.


"This impacts not just people within the UK, it impacts flights heading here from anywhere - anything heading this way will be told some of them can't be accepted, and they will have to go back to where they flew from or consider diverting to other countries," he told the BBC.


UPDATE:


EXPLOSION on Flight May Have Caused Closure of UK Airspace:



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