Irish airports impacted by major UK flight disruption

Nine flights going into or out of Cork Airport had to be cancelled on Tuesday due to technical issues with air traffic control in the UK, with Dublin Airport also affected

There has been disruption to flights leaving the UK caused by an air traffic control issue will “take some time” to recover from. Picture: Larry Cummins

Over 1,000 flights were reported cancelled at UK airports including many coming to or leaving from Ireland as chaos followed an air traffic control glitch on Tuesday.

Late into the evening passengers including at Cork and Shannon were being advised to keep checking their flights for updates.

FlightRadar24 tracks air traffic in real time around the world.

On Tuesday evening it posted on X that the rate of inbound flights to London, Manchester and Birmingham was much lower than last Tuesday.

“More than 1,000 flights have been canceled at UK airports following a technical failure at a NATS ATC facility earlier today,” it said.

The NATS air traffic control office apologised to passengers at 19.30 on Tuesday, having first confirmed the problems around lunch-time.

It said staff were “working as hard as possible” to clear the backlog.

In Cork, passengers arriving and leaving were affected by the latest advice, issued also around 7.30pm, to continue checking flight details directly with airlines.

Barry Holland, communications manager for Cork Airport, said some flights are subject to delays.

“Nine flights were cancelled, five inbound and four outbound,” he said on Tuesday evening.

“Passengers scheduled to fly this evening are advised to get in touch with their airline directly for the latest updates on their flight.” 

Shannon Airport has marked several flights inbound and outbound as cancelled, including an evening flight to London Heathrow as well as arrivals from Heathrow and Birmingham.

Ireland West Airport in Knock also advised passengers on Tuesday evening of “some disruption” to flight departures from the UK.

Dublin Airport saw 23 departing and 21 arriving flights cancelled by 5pm. It warned passengers that “further disruption is possible as the evening goes on”.

Dublin also advised passengers intending to fly later on Tuesday to contact airlines directly for updates.

NATS said: “Our system issue is now resolved, we are operating normally and working as hard as possible to clear the backlog of flights.

“We are truly sorry for the ongoing flight disruption. We know this is hugely frustrating and apologise unreservedly. Passengers should continue to check with their airline.” 

It had initially acknowledged the problems around lunchtime, saying engineers were investigating “a technical issue which is causing some disruption to flight departures”