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UK flight delays glitch 'now fixed' but delays continue UK flight delays glitch 'now fixed' but delays continue
(about 1 hour later)
A telephone glitch that caused hundreds of flights to be delayed has now been resolved, air traffic controllers have said. A telephone glitch that caused hundreds of flights to be delayed has now been resolved, but disruption is continuing.
Thousands of passengers faced cancellations and long waits after the National Air Traffic Service (Nats) internal phone system broke down.Thousands of passengers faced cancellations and long waits after the National Air Traffic Service (Nats) internal phone system broke down.
Disruption is still expected on Sunday, despite Nats announcing at 1930 GMT that the problem had been fixed. Delays are still expected to continue into Sunday, despite Nats announcing at 1930 GMT that the problem had been fixed.
Affected airports include Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Cardiff and Glasgow.Affected airports include Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Cardiff and Glasgow.
A passenger who said he had been waiting five hours at London's Gatwick airport said people were "crying, distraught and angry".A passenger who said he had been waiting five hours at London's Gatwick airport said people were "crying, distraught and angry".
"One passenger has missed their sister's wedding," Tom Flatman, from Brighton, told the BBC."One passenger has missed their sister's wedding," Tom Flatman, from Brighton, told the BBC.
'Not good enough' 'Severely delayed'
Air traffic controllers dealt with 2,800 flights rather than the usual 3,500 on a normal Saturday. By 16:00 GMT Nats said it had handled 2,576 flights compared with 2,905 at the same time last week.
Ryanair said 300 of its flights were delayed on Saturday with 12 cancelled and called on the Civil Aviation Authority to act. Ryanair said 300 of its flights were delayed on Saturday with 12 cancelled and called on the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to act.
"While we acknowledge problems can occur, where is the contingency? It's simply not good enough and the CAA needs to act now," it said in a statement. "While we acknowledge problems can occur, where is the contingency?" it said in a statement.
Heathrow had cancelled 228 flights by 18:55 GMT, a spokeswoman said, with the grounded flights almost evenly split between departures and arrivals. Heathrow had cancelled 228 flights by 18:55 GMT, a spokeswoman said, adding that there was now an average one-hour delay for departures.
Gatwick urged passengers to check with their airline on Saturday, warning "there may be delays to flights this evening".
Delays at Stanstead ranged from 10 minutes to four hours, a spokesman for the airport said, adding that schedules were expected to return to normal on Sunday.
No Easyjet flights have yet been cancelled but many were subject to delays.No Easyjet flights have yet been cancelled but many were subject to delays.
Eurocontrol - which manages European air safety - said around 1,300 flights, or 8% of all air traffic on the continent, had been "severely delayed".
Meanwhile, elsewhere:
Nats said the problem at its Swanwick centre, in Hampshire, arose in the early hours of Saturday morning when the night-time operation failed to properly switch over to the daytime system.Nats said the problem at its Swanwick centre, in Hampshire, arose in the early hours of Saturday morning when the night-time operation failed to properly switch over to the daytime system.
"At night we manage quite big sectors of airspace because the traffic demand is low," Nats operations manager Juliet Kennedy said. "The problem that arose this morning with the ground communications system in the area control operations room at Nats Swanwick has now been resolved and operations are returning to normal," a spokesman said.
"During the day, as demand increases, we need to split the airspace into smaller sectors - last night we were unable to open new positions. Biggest in Europe
"It was a problem with the internal telephone system." The software failure happened when the 23 controllers working overnight were due to hand over to the 125 on the day shift at around 6:00 GMT.
She said she expected it to be fixed between 1800 and 1830 GMT but that how long disruption to flight schedules would continue depended on the individual airlines. "To be clear, this is a very complex and sophisticated system with more than a million lines of software," the spokesman added.
She added that there had been no impact safety. "This is not simply internal telephones, it is the system that controllers use to speak to other [air traffic control] agencies both in the UK and Europe and is the biggest system of its kind in Europe."
The BBC's transport correspondent Richard Westcott said it was a totally different issue to a software problem that hit the control centre in summer.The BBC's transport correspondent Richard Westcott said it was a totally different issue to a software problem that hit the control centre in summer.
Ms Kennedy added: "We want to apologise to people. We are very aware of how much inconvenience this has caused people." Nats head of operations Juliet Kennedy told the BBC: "We want to apologise to people. We are very aware of how much inconvenience this has caused people."
'Shambolic''Shambolic'
Belfast, Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Southampton, Luton, London City, Newcastle, Exeter and Bournemouth are among other airports that have reported delays, asking passengers to check with their airlines. The CAA advised customers affected to contact the airline concerned to discuss their case.
Stansted Airport said flights were subject to delays, while Gatwick said 20% of its departures had been delayed, with passengers being warned they may have to wait for "a couple of hours". It pointed out that customers could claim assistance from their airline if they were delayed for several hours, including being given food and drink, usually in vouchers.
At Stansted, Alena Kontza was stuck on a Ryanair plane that had been delayed for three hours. She told the BBC passengers had been given "absolutely no information" and "it's been nothing less than shambolic".At Stansted, Alena Kontza was stuck on a Ryanair plane that had been delayed for three hours. She told the BBC passengers had been given "absolutely no information" and "it's been nothing less than shambolic".
"People are really aggravated, children are crying, people want to leave, people want to change to different planes, it's an absolute nightmare," she said."People are really aggravated, children are crying, people want to leave, people want to change to different planes, it's an absolute nightmare," she said.
And in Norwich, one mother said she was worried she would have to cancel a planned Christmas trip to Lapland tomorrow morning. A spokeswoman for British Airways said: "We are organising hotels for customers when appropriate. In addition, customers on cancelled services of course have the opportunity to claim a refund or rebook."
"It's the second time we are trying to do this trip," Lisa Smith said. "We were grounded by snow two years ago. Independent aviation analyst Chris Yates said it had been a "trying and a very tough day", adding: "There's going to be a lot of hard questions asked of Nats over the coming days.
"My son will be devastated. How do you tell a child twice they are not going to Lapland?" "In the meantime we have to get back to a normal service."
Independent aviation analyst Chris Yates said it was going to be a "day of frustrations".
He said that passengers due to arrive at UK airports from overseas could find themselves diverted elsewhere.
"But it's going to be a long wait for them. When the system kicks back in and starts working, there will be a backlog of flights.
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