Heathrow and Gatwick delays live: Flights grounded at UK airports due to air traffic control glitch

Flights are understood to be grounded at multiple London airports this afternoon.

Heathrow has confirmed it is impacted by the ongoing issue with air traffic control, while Gatwick and Luton are also reported to be affected.

We’ll bring you all the latest in this blog.

Air traffic control is investigating a “technical issue” affecting London’s airports on Tuesday afternoon, according to the national air traffic control service (NATS).

In a post on X it wrote: “We are investigating a technical issue which is causing some disruption to flight departures. Our engineers are on site and we will provide an update as soon as we can.

“We apologise for the delay this will cause to journeys, passengers should check with their airline on the status of their flight. We will provide updates on https://nats.aero.”

Heathrow Airport confirmed it has been affected by the onging air traffic control issue this afternoon.

In a statement it said: “The air traffic control service is experiencing a technical issue which is impacting departing flights at UK airports. Arriving flights are not currently impacted. We are supporting our local NATS team in their efforts to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

Chaos at the UK’s airports could spill into this evening after an air control issue left a number of flights grounded, according to FlightRadar24.

In a post on X, the flight tracking platform said Eurocontrol currently suggests normal traffic may not return until 8pm.