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20h ago

Radar Fault Briefly Grounds London Airspace

Flights have resumed under updated safety procedures, with NATS managing a growing backlog of grounded aircraft.

FILE PHOTO: A passenger plane approaches a runway at Terminal 5 of Heathrow Airport, as the London skyline is seen in the distance, in Greater London, Britain, January 29, 2025. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe/File Photo
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Overview

  • A technical glitch in the Swanwick radar system forced Eurocontrol to declare London airspace unavailable for about 20 minutes on July 30, 2025.
  • NATS engineers limited the number of aircraft in the area to ensure safety before isolating and fixing the fault in under half an hour.
  • Gatwick and Heathrow suspended departures and placed inbound flights into holding patterns or diversions during the outage.
  • Normal operations have since restarted but airlines and air traffic controllers are contending with significant delays and flight backlogs.
  • The Swanwick incident underscores long-standing vulnerabilities in the NATS network, which has faced software and infrastructure failures since its 2002 launch.