Northern Ireland airports experience flight delays following air traffic control issues

In a statement on its website, the airport said: “We are currently experiencing some delays to flights due to a Nats air traffic control issue.

“Passengers who are due to travel should check with their airline for latest information on their flight status.

“If you do not have a confirmed flight, please do not travel to the airport.”

Manchester, Belfast International, Edinburgh and George Best Belfast City airports have seen the most cancellations or flights registered as “no fly” on Monday morning, according to aviation analytics company Cirium.

The company tags flights as “no flies” if they are delayed for more than three hours.

As of Monday at 9.58am, Manchester, Belfast International and George Best Belfast City airports had each seen four flights cancelled or no flies, whilst Edinburgh had seen three.

EasyJet has said the latest flight disruption “calls into question the resilience of Nats’ systems” after two air traffic control problems within one month.

The airline said in a statement: “A Nats air traffic control system failure in its Prestwick centre is causing delays to flights with some unable to operate.

“This, once again, calls into question the resilience of Nats’ systems and demonstrates the need for firm actions to prevent these repeated failures.

“We will do all we can minimise the impact of this for our customers and advise anyone due to fly today to check our flight tracker for the latest information.”

British Airways has said it is “disappointing” that some customers may experience disruption after “yet another technical fault with Nats”.

A spokesperson for the airline said: “Yet another technical fault with Nats means some of our customers are likely to experience disruption to their travel plans today.

“This is disappointing and whilst it is an issue that is entirely out of our control, we’re doing everything we can to limit the impact on customers and are keeping them updated.”

Jet2 has said customers and airlines need “action, accountability and proper resilience” after the latest Nats issue.

Chief executive Steve Heapy said: “This morning’s disruption comes days after Nats published a report into its latest major failure and it is simply not good enough for this critical national infrastructure to keep letting customers down.

“Customers work hard to look forward to their holidays and airlines work hard to deliver those holidays. They should not be repeatedly exposed to delays and disruption because the UK’s air traffic control systems cannot be relied upon.

“There have been too many incidents, too many reports and too many promises of lessons being learned.

“What customers and airlines need now is action, accountability and proper resilience, and we need it urgently.”

He added: “Make no mistake, we are counting the cost of this disruption and will be sending another bill to Nats.”

Regional airline Loganair has cancelled a number of flights due to the problem with an air traffic control system.

As of 9.15am, the airline said it had cancelled 10 flights which were due to take place on Monday, saying this was “due to Nats air traffic control issues affecting UK airspace”.

This included flights between Glasgow and City of Derry Airport, and flights between the Isle of Man and London City.

A Nats spokesman said: “Our engineers are continuing to investigate the issue at our Prestwick centre in Scotland.

“Airports south of Manchester are broadly unaffected, however flights heading north and flights departing Scottish airports are currently subject to some delay.

“Passengers should check with their airlines. This is unrelated to the issue two weeks ago. We apologise for the disruption.”