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.
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.