El Al Cancels Flights Amid UK Air Traffic Control System Failure
El Al has announced the cancellation of its flights to and from Britain due to a severe technical malfunction in the UK's national air traffic control system. The failure, which occurred on Tuesday, has caused widespread disruption, leading to the cancellation of approximately 600 flights globally so far. Travel into and out of British airports is currently impossible.
The issue stems from a problem with the flight processing system operated by NATS, the UK's air navigation services provider. Engineers are working urgently to resolve the problem, but NATS has warned that airspace restrictions will remain, and a full return to normal operations is expected to take a significant amount of time.
Major UK airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, and Stansted, are experiencing substantial flight cancellations. Airlines such as British Airways and EasyJet are reporting a domino effect of disruptions impacting airports across Europe. Hundreds of thousands of passengers are stranded in terminals with no clear indication of when normal service will resume.
This incident follows a series of technical failures in UK air traffic control systems in recent years, which have previously cost airlines tens of millions of pounds in compensation and caused prolonged delays worldwide.
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