UK Air Traffic Disruption Likely to Spread Across Europe

Today, a "major network failure" occurred in the UK's air traffic control system on one of the busiest days of the year, causing chaos for travellers that could last for several days, according to British media outlets.

The UK's National Air Traffic Service (NATS) stated that it experienced "technical issues," forcing air traffic controllers to slow down both landing and take-off speeds.

This has resulted in delays of approximately three hours for dozens of flights both to and from the UK.

NATS also mentioned in their statement: "We are currently experiencing a technical issue and have implemented flow restrictions to ensure safety. Engineers are working to identify and rectify the fault. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause," as reported by Sky News.

The British airline Loganair reported that UK airspace has been affected by the disruption in air traffic control systems. The airline warned its customers on social media that flights might be delayed due to the malfunction, according to The Guardian.

"Earlier this morning, a failure occurred in the UK's air traffic control computer systems. While we hope to operate most domestic Scottish flights with local coordination and minimal disruption, north-to-south and international flights could experience delays. If you are flying with us today, please check our website for the latest information on your flight before heading to the airport," read the airline's statement.

The nationwide system failure has led to ongoing chaos for travellers that may last more than a day, says the Daily Mail.

Travel expert Simon Calder stated that the system failure will cause issues for passengers and is likely to extend across Europe.

He added that airlines are expected to have to pay out millions in compensation.

NATS has not provided any additional information regarding the cause of the failure or how long it will take to restore UK airspace to normal operations.