Heathrow Airport has said its services will “remain significantly disrupted” on Tuesday after air traffic controllers across the UK experienced a technical fault.
In a statement about the “technical issues” that affected the National Air Traffic Services (NATS), Britain’s busiest airport urged passengers to contact their airline before travelling to the airport.
“The issue has been resolved, however schedules remain significantly disrupted,” it said.
“If you are travelling on 29th August, please ensure you contact your airline before travelling to the airport.”
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London Gatwick has said it plans to operate a normal schedule on Tuesday following the disruption.
However, passengers have been advised to check the status of their flight with their airline before travelling to the airport.
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London Stansted also said it planned to run a normal flight schedule on Tuesday, but added “our terminal may be busier than anticipated”.
And major UK airlines such as Tui and BA warned of “significant delays” for passengers amid changes to schedules.
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By Monday afternoon 232 flights departing UK airports had been cancelled along with 271 arriving flights, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. It equates to about 8% of all expected departures and 9% of expected arrivals, Cirium added.
The technical fault meant flight plans had to be input manually by controllers.
While NATS has confirmed it has fixed the technical issue with the UK’s air traffic control system, airports have warned the disruption it has caused will continue. Here’s what some of them have said.
London Luton Airport: “The earlier technical issue with air traffic control systems has now been resolved, however widespread disruption continues across UK airspace.”
Manchester Airport: “As a result of the nationwide technical problem experienced by NATS earlier today, there continues to be flight disruption, including delays and cancellations.”
Newcastle International Airport: “We understand that the technical issue with National Air Traffic Services is now resolved, but it will take some time for operations to get back to normal.”
London Stansted Airport expects to run a normal flight schedule on Tuesday 29 August, following the nationwide technical issue that affected air traffic control. We do still advise passengers to check the status of their flight with their airline before travelling to the airport. As our airlines look to accommodate passengers whose travel plans have been disrupted over the past 24 hours, our terminal may be busier than anticipated.
Our teams will be working with our airlines and their handing agents to get you through the airport as smoothly as possible. Thank-you for your understanding.
Heathrow Airport: We apologise for any inconvenience as a result of the NATS technical issues today. The issue has been resolved however schedules remain significantly disrupted. If you are travelling on 29th August, please ensure you contact your airline before travelling to the airport.
Gatwick Airport plans to operate a normal schedule on Tuesday 29 August following disruption today (28 August). Passengers are however advised to check the status of their flight with the airline before travelling to the airport.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said on Monday that “despite resolving the technical issue behind today’s air traffic control issues, flights are still unfortunately affected”.
He said he would encourage all passengers to read the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s guidance and “be aware of their rights when flights are delayed or cancelled”.
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‘I can’t get home to my nine-month-old baby’
Technical issue ‘remedied’ but travellers face continued disruption
Earlier on Monday NATS said the “technical issue” affecting its flight planning system had been “identified and remedied”, but travellers continued to face disruption.
“We are now working closely with airlines and airports to manage the flights affected as efficiently as possible,” NATS said.
“Our engineers will be carefully monitoring the system’s performance as we return to normal operations.
“The flight planning issue affected the system’s ability to automatically process flight plans, meaning that flight plans had to be processed manually which cannot be done at the same volume, hence the requirement for traffic flow restrictions.
“Our priority is always to ensure that every flight in the UK remains safe and we are sincerely sorry for the disruption this is causing. Please contact your airline for information on how this may affect your flight.”
Addressing the City Academy Voices choir directly, the bishop of Fulham said: “I write to apologise for the distress and offence I caused in bringing the concert to a premature end.
“This should not have happened … I also apologise for remarks which were made in haste, and which have understandably caused hurt and distress.”
Image: The bishop, in his dressing gown, gave the choir a dressing down
Mr Baker had demanded for the performance to stop because it was 10pm – and says he didn’t realise the choir had booked the church until 11pm.
In the statement obtained by Sky News, he added: “I have lived here on site at St Andrew’s for 10 years, for much of which City Academy has rehearsed and performed here.
“You have been, and continue to be, welcome – and I hope that you will be able to continue the relationship with us.
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“I can give you every assurance that the events of Friday evening will not recur, and I apologise again to performers (especially those unable to perform at the end of the evening) and the audience alike.”
Image: The choir performed their last song
The choir was performing to a 300-strong audience in Holborn when the lights were suddenly turned off, with Mr Baker declaring the concert was “over”.
A church employee then asked the crowd to leave quietly and for the musicians to step down from the stage, attracting boos from the audience.
The choir went on to perform one last song, an A cappella version of ABBA’s Dancing Queen, before bringing their show to a close.
One member of the audience, who was attending with his 10-year-old daughter, told Sky News he initially thought the interruption was a staged joke.
Benedict Collins had told Sky News: “This work deserves respect, not to be disparaged as a ‘terrible racket’. The people here had put their heart and soul into it.
“The bishop cut them off in midstream, preventing soloists who had worked their hardest from singing – and preventing the audience, which included people of all ages, from enjoying it to the end.”
The choir told Sky News it was “upsetting” that they were unable to finish their show as planned, but “hold no hard feelings and wish the bishop well”.
A spokesperson added: “If anyone is thinking of joining one of our choirs, the City Academy Voices rehearse on Mondays in central London. Dressing gowns optional.”
The Online Safety Act is putting free speech at risk and needs significant adjustments, Elon Musk’s social network X has warned.
New rules that came into force last week require platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and X – as well as sites hosting pornography – to bring in measures to prove that someone using them is over the age of 18.
The Online Safety Act requires sites to protect children and to remove illegal content, but critics have said that the rules have been implemented too broadly, resulting in the censorship of legal content.
X has warned the act’s laudable intentions were “at risk of being overshadowed by the breadth of its regulatory reach”.
It said: “When lawmakers approved these measures, they made a conscientious decision to increase censorship in the name of ‘online safety’.
“It is fair to ask if UK citizens were equally aware of the trade-off being made.”
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What are the new online rules?
X claims the timetable for platforms to meet mandatory measures had been unnecessarily tight – and despite complying, sites still faced threats of enforcement and fines, “encouraging over-censorship”.
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“A balanced approach is the only way to protect individual liberties, encourage innovation and safeguard children. It’s safe to say that significant changes must take place to achieve these objectives in the UK,” it said.
A UK government spokesperson said it is “demonstrably false” that the Online Safety Act compromises free speech.
“As well as legal duties to keep children safe, the very same law places clear and unequivocal duties on platforms to protect freedom of expression,” they added.
Users have complained about age checks that require personal data to be uploaded to access sites that show pornography, and 468,000 people have already signed a petition asking for the new law to be repealed.
In response to the petition, the government said it had “no plans” to reverse the Online Safety Act.
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Why do people want to repeal the Online Safety Act?
Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage likened the new rules to “state suppression of genuine free speech” and said his party would ditch the regulations.
Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said on Tuesday that those who wanted to overturn the act were “on the side of predators” – to which Mr Farage demanded an apology, calling Mr Kyle’s comments “absolutely disgusting”.
Regulator Ofcom said on Thursday it had launched an investigation into how four companies – that collectively run 34 pornography sites – are complying with new age-check requirements.
These companies – 8579 LLC, AVS Group Ltd, Kick Online Entertainment S.A. and Trendio Ltd – run dozens of sites, and collectively have more than nine million unique monthly UK visitors, the internet watchdog said.
The regulator said it prioritised the companies based on the risk of harm posed by the services they operated and their user numbers.
It adds to the 11 investigations already in progress into 4chan, as well as an unnamed online suicide forum, seven file-sharing services, and two adult websites.
Ofcom said it expects to make further enforcement announcements in the coming months.
Two siblings who drowned while on holiday in Spain have been named – with a fundraiser for their family reaching £40,000.
Ameiya and Ricardo Junior Parris, aged 13 and 11, died on Tuesday evening after getting into difficulty off Llarga beach in Salou, Catalonia.
Their father Ricardo tried to rescue them, but he also got into difficulty and was unconscious when he was pulled from the water. He was later released from hospital with a concussion.
Ricardo Senior and his partner, Shanice Del-Brocco, 31, were staying at the Hotel Best Negresco right by the beach with their six children when tragedy struck.
Image: Ameiya and Ricardo Junior have been described as “hilarious, sensitive and loving”. Pic: Kayla Del-Brocco/PA Wire
The construction worker from Birmingham had taken their two oldest children for one final swim while Shanice had taken the younger ones back to the hotel.
“They’d gone out. They were being sensible. They’re very good swimmers,” the children’s aunt, Kayla Del-Brocco, said.
“They knew it was late. However, they’d been doing this every day on holiday, so that day was no different. They didn’t go out far, but the current was just too strong and pulled them.”
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A hotel worker saw the siblings struggling in the water and called for help. When Shanice returned to the beach, emergency services were already at the scene, with Junior, nicknamed Joby, taken away in a helicopter.
“It’s breaking (Ricardo), if I’m honest, because he was in the water, and I know he said things to my sister like: ‘I had him, I had Joby in my arms, and we got smacked up the rocks, and that’s the last thing I remember,'” Shanice’s sister said.
Ricardo Senior suffered a “nasty concussion and some bumps and batters”, Ms Del-Brocco said, adding that he was the first to be rescued.
Image: Little Ameiya and her oldest brother Ricardo Junior. Pic: Kayla Del-Brocco/PA Wire
The couple were unable to see their children’s bodies until Thursday at the mortuary and are now waiting for them to be repatriated to the UK, which they were told “could be anything from seven to 15 days”, Ms Del-Rocco said.
“They are just numb. They’re holding each other up and keeping it together for the little ones at the minute; going through the motions and desperately waiting to come home now.”
The GoFundMe page to help cover the cost of repatriating the bodies of Ameiya and Ricardo Junior, which was set up by her cousin, has already raised around £40,000, which Ms Del-Rocco described as “phenomenally overwhelming”.
“Maya was intelligent, thoughtful, and growing into a strong young woman. Ricardo Junior was playful, kind, and always smiling. They brought so much love, laughter, and energy into the lives of everyone around them,” the fundraising page reads.
“Their absence has left an unbearable silence not just for their parents, but for their whole family, who were incredibly close and shared an unbreakable bond.”
Image: Ameiya and Ricardo Junior were doting older siblings. Pic: Kayla Del-Brocco/PA Wire
Ms Del-Brocco said that Ameiya and Junior, who were in Years 7 and 8 at North Birmingham Academy, were doting older siblings, with their mother describing them as “hilarious, sensitive and loving – the best big brother and sister anyone could want”.
Their aunt said that Ameiya, a talented runner with ambitions of going to the Olympics, was “unapologetically just herself” and “driven by being unique”.
Ricardo Junior was a “very, very special one-of-a-kind character” who wanted to become a famous YouTuber.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of two British children who have died in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities.”