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London air traffic disrupted due to technical glitch

December 12, 2014

A technical problem has caused disruption to flights in and out of London. Air traffic control officials have said the airspace is open but restricted.

https://p.dw.com/p/1E3RJ
Symbolbild - London Heathrow
Image: picture alliance / empics

NATS, the British-based air traffic management company said via its twitter account on Friday that it had experienced a technical problem at its air traffic control center at Swanwick in southern England.

It apologized for any delays and said it was working to fix the problem, which had forced it to restrict but not close the airspace over London.

Earlier reports had suggested that the airspace over the British capital had been closed down entirely.

All five London airports, Heathrow, Gatwick, London City, Stansted and Luton were affected by the restrictions on take-offs and landings. It wasn't immediately clear when the situation would return to normal.

The airport at Manchester, in northern England said that as it was unaffected by the airspace restrictions, it was prepared to accept flights diverted from London.

pfd/lw (AFP, AP, Reuters)