A technical malfunction in the UK's air traffic control system has grounded or delayed hundreds of flights across several major airports, creating widespread disruption for airlines and passengers throughout the country.

London's Heathrow Airport, the nation's largest aviation hub, stated on Tuesday that the issue stems from a fault at NATS, the UK's air traffic services provider, and that currently only departing flights are being impacted. London Gatwick Airport, London Luton Airport, and Edinburgh Airport have also confirmed that their operations are being affected.

NATS, a public-private partnership responsible for managing UK airspace, verified that a technical problem has been identified within its flight processing system. A spokesperson for the company stated in an email that while flights are still taking off and airspace remains open, restoring full operations will take time. The spokesperson added that engineers are on site and working intensively to return services to normal as swiftly as possible.

Data from FlightAware indicates that at Heathrow Airport alone, more than 60 flights have been cancelled and over 200 have been delayed so far. The UK has experienced several air traffic control outages in recent years, including a disruption last summer attributed to an unspecified radar-related issue. Three years prior, a similar system failure forced the temporary closure of UK airspace, stranding aircraft, crew, and passengers.