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A major technical malfunction brought Britain's entire aviation system to a standstill on Monday July 28, stranding thousands of passengers and triggering widespread flight delays across the country.

 

The mysterious technical problem, which originated at the Swanswick air traffic control centre near London, affected all flights departing from the United Kingdom and caused delays at most of the country's airports.

 

The National Air Traffic Service (NATS) confirmed the unprecedented disruption in an official statement, while London Gatwick Airport took to social media to warn travellers about the crisis.

 

"A technical issue affecting the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) is impacting all outbound flights in the UK," London Gatwick Airport said on its X account, confirming that there were no departures from the air hub "until the situation is resolved."

 

Heathrow and Stansted airports in London also reported being affected by the technical incident, while major regional hubs including Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh also fell victim to the system failure.

 

For safety reasons, the British Air Traffic Control Authority imposed strict limits on aircraft movements over the London airport control area.

 

Holidaymaker Carlos Gil experienced the disruption firsthand during his journey from Heathrow to Bilbao. His flight was more than an hour and a half late on the London runway as crews struggled to address the radar malfunction. The cabin crew informed Gil that there had been a problem with the radar and that a delay of at least three hours was expected, explaining that even after the technical issue was resolved, there would still be a "long queue of planes" waiting for takeoff.

 

Later in the day, airport authorities announced that engineers had successfully restored the system.

 

"We are in the process of resuming normal operations in the London area," officials reported, though they warned that some delays would continue as the aviation network worked to clear the accumulated backlog of flights.

 

This latest aviation emergency added to a troubling pattern of infrastructure failures plaguing British airports. Just months earlier, a fire in an electrical substation forced the closure of London's Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest, for much of the day on March 21, resulting in the cancellation of more than 1,300 flights and the diversion of numerous aircraft to other airports in the United Kingdom and continental Europe.

 

 

Image: Heathrow Express