Flights resume at Edinburgh Airport after air traffic control outage

Passengers are experiencing delays and cancellations after an air traffic control outage led to the suspension of flights to and from Edinburgh Airport.

Services resumed at 10:40 after flights were grounded for about two hours, with some passengers reporting being stuck in planes on the runway.

There have since been knock-on delays, diversions and cancellations to flights in and out of the airport.

Edinburgh Airport said the problem had been caused by an IT issue with its air traffic control provider, Air Navigations Solutions (ANSL), and thanked passengers for their “patience and understanding”.

An ANSL spokesperson said a comprehensive investigation was under way to identify the cause of the issue.

Seven flights from Edinburgh have been cancelled – to Paris, Bristol, Belfast, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Luton and Belfast City.

A further 11 planes were diverted from landing in Edinburgh and 15 flights have been delayed.

The airport said the situation was “fluid” and further disruption was still possible.

Passengers were asked to contact their airlines for the latest information on their flights.

Margot and Iver Morton from Dundee said they were facing a 10-hour wait in the airport after their flight was cancelled.

The couple, who are travelling to London to deliver Christmas presents to their teenage grandchildren, were able to book onto a later flight to Gatwick.

Iver said: “It was most unexpected. We’ve been left to fend for ourselves and it’s not been an easy process.

“It took us half an hour to get re-booked on to another flight. It’s not been the best of days.

“Our original flight was at 10:25 and our new flight takes off at 21:00. We’re trying to amuse ourselves for the next 10 hours.”

Christine McKenzie, who had been in Edinburgh for a Christmas party, booked a train home to Bristol when she heard her flight had been delayed.

“I think you just have to go with the flow. It’s unavoidable so people were just waiting and being patient.

“We are going to go back into the centre of Edinburgh and get the train. There are three of us so at least we are together.”

She added it was a bit frustrating but it could have been a lot worse.

Jeff Ballard, who lives in Florence, was due to be on a 12:00 flight to Belfast but it was cancelled.

The jazz musician and his two bandmates were trying to book another flight as they are due to play a gig in the city later.

He said: “We showed up, checked in, and went to the gate and then received a text that the flight was cancelled.

“We played last night in Edinburgh and it was great and now we are ready to go to Belfast but the flight is cancelled.

“They sent another flight for us but it is tomorrow morning so that is not going to do us any good.”

Felicity, from Swindon, said she was “gutted” as the delays meant she would now miss her youngest child’s last nativity play.

She had travelled to Edinburgh for a work meeting and said she had been waiting for an hour and a half, with many on the plane having missed connections.

Rory Boland, the editor of Which? Travel, said the airline was responsible for getting diverted passengers to their original destination and should cover those costs.

“Contact the airline in the first instance but you can claim for onward travel if this proves impossible,” he said.

However, he said passengers were unlikely to be owed compensation for delays or cancellations caused by a technical issue of this kind.

Edinburgh Airport is one of the busiest in the UK, being used by 15.8 million passengers last year.

An ANSL spokesperson said: “Earlier today, a technical issue affected one of our systems at Edinburgh Airport which temporarily impacted flight operations.

“Safety is our number one priority, and our engineers worked at pace to restore system capability as quickly as possible.

“Within 90 minutes, our technical capability had been reinstated and flights resumed.

“We regret the inconvenience that it has caused and thank everyone for their patience.”