Air chaos: Flights between Belfast and London cancelled or delayed for second day as airports try to get back to normal
Some flights between London and Belfast were axed this morning, while others this afternoon are predicted to be delayed by around an hour as air travellers battled disruption for a second day.
The bulk of arrivals and departures at both Belfast City Airport and Belfast International Airport are returning to normal after yesterday saw roughly 1,300 flights to and from UK airports grounded after a system issue hit the National Air Traffic Service (Nats).
But travellers heading to or from London airports still face problems, with Belfast City seeing two flights cancelled this morning – and both City and International airports state that journeys to and from the UK’s capital this afternoon and evening are schedules to be hit with delays.
Nats provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports. Tens of thousands of passengers were caught up in yesterday’s chaos, which continued this morning with further cancellations and delays expected as airlines deal with knock-on impacts.
At Belfast City, a plane due in from Heathrow at 10.45am was axed, as was a journey to Heathrow that was due to leave the Ulster airport at 11.35am. Both were British Airways flights.
As of 11am this morning, all flights to and from Belfast City during the early part of the afternoon were stated to be scheduled as normal – but that changes after 4.30pm, when several departures and arrivals involving Heathrow, Gatwick and London City are to be hit by delays, some of more than an hour.
The issues hit both British Airways and EasyJet flights. Journeys between Belfast City and Glasgow this evening are also to be late.
Over at International, flights were mainly operating on schedule this morning, but officials warned delays could hit as the day goes on.
A Ryanair plane from Stansted due in at 11.35am is to be around an hour late, the airport’s journey checker states, and an EasyJet flight to Glasgow at 2.20pm will leave more than half an hour late.
International runs far fewer flights to London airports than Belfast City, however, and appears to be much less seriously affected by today’s difficulties.
The small airport at Londonderry was also hit, with a flight from Heathrow due in at 10.15am now not expected to touch down until shortly after noon.
Meanwhile Nats boss Martin Rolfe is to face a grilling from Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander today, before she addresses MPs in the Commons for the second reading of the Civil Aviation Bill.
Speaking to the BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, Mr Rolfe apologised for the issue but dodged questions over whether he would resign.
He said: “Inevitably, things do go wrong in complex systems.
“We never want them to. We always hope they won’t, but we absolutely plan for them to and make sure we handle them properly.”
Apologising for “disappointing and upsetting” disruption, Mr Rolfe said a “thorough” investigation would take place, but ruled out a cyber attack.
Calling for him to go, Ryanair’s chief operating officer Neal McMahon said: “How many more failures do passengers have to suffer before overpaid failure Nats CEO Martin Rolfe accepts responsibility for his repeated mismanagement and resigns?
“Over three years after Nats’ catastrophic 2023 system meltdown, it’s clear that nothing has changed, with passengers once again suffering avoidable delays of up to eight hours.”