Air India's London-bound flight lands in Zurich amidst Heathrow's air traffic control issue

Air India flight AI 131 from Mumbai to London landed in Zurich after a technical issue affecting Britain's air traffic control system disrupted departing flights from airports across the UK on Tuesday.

More than 290 passengers are onboard the Air India flight. Passengers have been instructed to remain inside the aircraft in Zurich while the situation at London Heathrow Airport is expected to be resolved.

Also read: Over 600 flights cancelled as air traffic control issue hits major UK airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted


The disruption was caused by a technical issue at NATS, Britain's air traffic control provider, Heathrow Airport said. The airport said the problem was affecting departing flights at UK airports, while arriving flights were not immediately impacted.

The disruption widened during the day, with Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted airports reporting that they were affected by the NATS technical issue.

Healthrow's glitch hits 600 flights

Flight-monitoring website Flightradar24 reported that more than 600 flights were cancelled on Tuesday because of the technical problem. Heathrow separately said around 425 flights to and from UK airports, including Heathrow, had been cancelled, affecting airlines including British Airways, EasyJet, KLM and Lufthansa.

Heathrow said it was supporting the local NATS team in efforts to resolve the issue and advised passengers to check with their airlines for the latest flight information.

NATS manages air traffic across UK airspace as well as at several major airports in the country.

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Budget carrier EasyJet said some of its flights were “unable to operate” because of the system failure, which it said had also caused delays to flights across Europe.