On one of the busiest travel days of the year, the air traffic control systems in the UK have grounded thousands of planes.
LONDON — It could take "days" to fix a technical issue that has grounded hundreds of flights out of the United Kingdom, creating confusion for travelers during the busy summer travel season.
After a systems malfunction at the UK's air traffic control services prevented operators from automatically processing flight plans, hundreds of aircraft were delayed and canceled on Monday.
A few hours later, Britain's National Air Traffic Service announced that it had fixed the problem but issued a forewarning that it would take some time for regular flight schedules to resume.
Flights won't resume normally right once, but NATS Operations Director Juliet Kennedy stated in a statement that "we will continue to work with the airlines and the airports to recover the situation."
Kennedy stated that an investigation is being conducted to determine the root of the problem.
Data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows that on Monday, more over a quarter (27%) of all flights to and from U.K. airports were canceled.
A total of 790 departures and 785 arrivals were postponed, with Heathrow, the biggest airport in London, experiencing the most disruption. Manchester and London Gatwick were the next busiest airports.
Mark Harper, Britain's transport secretary, said on Tuesday that it will take "some days" to fix the issue.
Harper said on BBC Radio 4's "Today" show, "I accept it has disrupted thousands of people and it will take some days to bring people back to where they should be.
The problem occurs when many individuals are returning from summer vacations during the hectic public holiday travel season in the U.K.
According to Harper, the U.K.'s Civil Aviation Authority is looking into the reason for the malfunction. He also stated that the government was "clear it wasn't a cyberattack."
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