Passengers across Scotland face hours of delays and cancellations due to NATS error

National Air Traffic Services (NATS), which runs the country’s air traffic control systems, says the issue which was preventing flights from taking off has been identified and remedied, and that it is now “working with airports and airlines to manage the flights affected as efficiently as possible.”

Queues have been pictured outside Scotland’s airports, with queues to check in with bags at Edinburgh captured as spilling outside the terminal building onto the pavement. 

Passengers were told to expect delays of up to 12 hours due to the technical fault.

Edinburgh Airport’s live departure board shows a flight that was due to take off for London Stansted at 12:40 is now scheduled for twenty minutes past midnight tonight.

A Berlin service that was supposed to take flight at 13:55 has been pushed back to 21:00.

Cancellations have also been experienced by travellers. A string of eight arrivals all expected at 16.45 from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport into Edinburgh were all cancelled. A further seven due to arrive in Edinburgh from Amsterdam at 16.40 were also cancelled. 

In its latest update, NATS stated: “The flight planning issue affected the system’s ability to automatically process flight plans, meaning that flight plans had to be processed manually which cannot be done at the same volume, hence the requirement for traffic flow restrictions.  

“Our priority is always to ensure that every flight in the UK remains safe and we are sincerely sorry for the disruption this is causing.”

The Prestwick centre of NATS covers air traffic control for northern England, Scotland, and out into the north-east Atlantic. 

Problems can have huge knock on effects for air passengers. In October 2015, passengers in Scotland faced delays when Nats reported interference on radio frequencies used to speak to aircraft.

UK Transport Secretary Mark Harper said ministers were continuing to work with NATS to “help them manage affected flights and support passengers”. 

In its most recent statement on Twitter, Edinburgh Airport stated: “While the technical issue has been resolved, disruption to flight schedules remains. 

“Passengers should continue to check with their airline for flight information before coming to the airport.”

Glasgow Airport echoed the statement, encouraging passengers to keep checking for updates on their flights from their airlines