UK flight chaos: Nearly 1,000 flights disrupted — are UAE services affected?

More than 1,000 flights were canceled on Tuesday due to a technical issue in Britain's air traffic control system that caused disruptions at major airports across the UK, the flight monitoring website Flightradar24 reported.

Britain’s National Air Traffic Services said a problem had been identified in its flight processing system and engineers were urgently working on the issue, which affected flights across the UK.

In an update, it said it had “implemented a fix and our flight system is starting to recover.”

1,000 flights cancelled as disruption spreads

At least 1,000 flights to and from UK airports, including London Heathrow, were canceled, affecting services operated by multiple airlines, including British Airways, EasyJet, KLM and Lufthansa, according to Flightradar24.

Some passengers took to social media to complain about being stuck on the tarmac for hours, before their flights were eventually canceled. Many expressed frustration about a lack of communication from airlines.

The affected airports included Stansted and City in London, as well as those in Manchester, Birmingham, Gatwick and Scotland. They warned passengers to check the status of their flight with their airline.

Budget airline EasyJet said some of its flights were “unable to operate” and that the system failure caused “delays to flights across Europe.”

Heathrow's website showed that many short-haul flights departing for European destinations had been canceled or delayed.

It was not immediately clear what caused the technical problem.

Are UAE-UK flights affected?

The disruption raises questions for thousands of passengers travelling between the UAE and UK, with Emirates, Etihad Airways and Air Arabia operating direct services to British airports.

Checks on Tuesday evening did not show widespread cancellations of UAE-operated flights to the UK linked specifically to the NATS failure, although some services were experiencing delays.

Emirates operates multiple daily flights from Dubai to London Heathrow as well as services to Gatwick, Stansted and several other UK cities. Etihad Airways operates direct services from Abu Dhabi to London Heathrow and Manchester, while Air Arabia flies between Sharjah and London Gatwick.

With disruption continuing across the UK even after NATS implemented a fix, knock-on delays and schedule changes remain possible.

Passengers flying between the UAE and UK are advised to check their individual flight status directly with their airline before heading to the airport.