NEW DELHI: Flights between India and the UK were among more than 2,000 flights cancelled or diverted following a breakdown in air traffic control services in the United Kingdom on Tuesday night. As a result, the return legs of several India-bound flights were cancelled on Wednesday.
Flights operated by Air India, IndiGo, Emirates and British Airways between India and the UK were impacted. Although the issue has been resolved, the disruption is expected to continue affecting hundreds of flights due to the knock-on effect.
A software glitch in the UK’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) disrupted air travel globally.
Air India flights from Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi to London were diverted to airports in neighbouring countries on Tuesday, with their return legs cancelled on Wednesday.
An Air India source said flight AI 2017 from Delhi to London Heathrow was diverted to Paris, while another Delhi-London flight, AI 2015, was diverted to Vienna. Flight AI 131 from Mumbai to London was diverted to Zurich, while the Bengaluru-London flight was diverted to Vienna. As a consequence, the return legs of all these flights were cancelled.
An Air India flight to Birmingham from Ahmedabad and two other flights from Delhi to London reached their destinations on Tuesday before the system failed.
Two IndiGo flights were also diverted. Flight 6E3 from Delhi to London was diverted to Paris, while 6E1 from Mumbai to London was diverted to Amsterdam. The return legs of both flights to India were cancelled.
An IndiGo source said the diverted flights later departed for London from the airports where they had landed on Wednesday. No official statement was issued.
Passenger Mohammad Irfan Khan, who was travelling on the Delhi-London flight AI 2017, posted on X, "At Paris airport no individual from Air India was near passenger, no water , no food , no update on the next step. People travelling with infants and kids."
In a statement, Air India said, "Flights operating to and from airports in the United Kingdom have been impacted by a technical fault at NATS, the UK air traffic control provider. As a result, Air India has been forced to divert, delay or cancel multiple flights scheduled to operate to and from UK airports. This may lead to delays in some of our other services, too, as our aircraft and crews are out of position following the disruption."
It asked passengers to check the latest status of their flights before proceeding to the airport.
"We are closely monitoring the situation and are making every effort to minimise disruptions as much as possible," it added.
NATS has since restored its services, but the resumption of normal flight operations is expected to take time as airlines work to clear the backlog caused by the disruption, according to reports from Europe.
British Airways said it had been forced to divert or cancel more than 100 flights. It said the scale of the disruption would have a significant knock-on impact, leaving aircraft and crew in the wrong locations.
Emirates said its flights departing from and arriving at UK airports had also been disrupted due to the fault. It advised passengers to check their flight status regularly.
