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LONDON: Hundreds \u200cof departing flights from major British airports were disrupted on Tuesday after air traffic control provider NATS experienced a technical issue, with Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted among the hubs affected by cancellations and delays.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe have identified that the issue was \u200bin our flight processing system. Our engineers are on site and working urgently to resume normal \u200boperations as quickly as possible,\u201d NATS said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFlights are still departing and \u2060airspace is open, but recovery will take some time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Heathrow, Britain\u2019s biggest hub, said it was working with NATS \u200bon solving the problem.<\/span><\/p>\n Flight tracking website Flightradar24 said on social media that arrivals and departures were being regulated \u200bat airports in the London flight information region because of the issue.<\/span><\/p>\n About 100 flights have been cancelled at Heathrow and 367 have been delayed, according to data on flight-tracking platform FlightAware. Some 250 flights have \u200bbeen delayed at Gatwick, about 31% of the total, the data showed.<\/span><\/p>\n Edinburgh Airport said in a post on \u200bX that the issue might affect its operations. Ireland\u2019s Dublin airport said flights leaving and arriving from there were also \u200cbeing \u2060disrupted.<\/span><\/p>\n Other airports reporting delays or cancellations included London\u2019s Luton Airport and Birmingham Airport, as well as Aberdeen and Glasgow. Dublin Airport said some flights arriving to and departing from there would be subject to delays.<\/span><\/p>\n British Airways said it was experiencing disruption to flights because of the issue.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis is entirely out of our control and we\u2019re \u200bin touch with our \u200bcustomers whilst our teams \u2060work to get them on their way as quickly as possible,\u201d the airline said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n EasyJet said the issue was causing delays across Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n Ryanair, Wizz Air \u200band Virgin Atlantic were not immediately available for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s delays follow previous incidents \u200bthat caused severe \u2060disruption.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2024, Britain\u2019s aviation regulator said NATS needed to review its contingency plans for outages after the automatic processing of flight plans had malfunctioned a year earlier, causing chaos across Britain\u2019s airports.<\/span><\/p>\n Airline bosses said it had cost them over \u00a3100 \u2060million ($135.49 \u200bmillion) in refunds and compensation.<\/span><\/p>\nHUNDREDS OF FLIGHTS DELAYED AND MANY CANCELLED<\/span><\/h2>\n