Majority of Edinburgh Airport flights disrupted by air traffic control fault - Glasgow and Aberdeen also hit
Glasgow and Aberdeen airports also among those affected
More than half the flights at Scotland’s busiest airport have been delayed by an air traffic control problem in London on Tuesday afternoon.
Tracking service FlightRadar24, said 58 per cent of flights were disrupted delayed at Edinburgh, with average delays of 26 minutes.
Glasgow and Aberdeen airports also reported disruption, with at least 11 flights cancelled, including British Airways, Easyjet and Loganair services.
Knock-on disruption is expected for the rest of the day.
It is the fourth major air traffic fault to affect Edinburgh airport in just over three years, with three of them disrupting other Scottish airports too.
FlightRadar24 said some 200 flights overall - around 4 per cent - were cancelled.
Aviation analysts Cirium said by 4.15pm, 75 flights had been cancelled at Heathrow, including 16 British Airways departures, and 14 at Gatwick, most of them Easyjet.
Nats, the former National Air Traffic Services, said it was working closely with airports and airlines to minimise disruption, but not every UK airport was affected.
It said “recovery will take some time”.
A Nats spokesperson said at 4.40pm: “We have implemented a fix and our flight system is starting to recover.
“We are continuing to work closely with our airline and airport customers on recovery.
“We apologise sincerely for the disruption to people’s journeys today and they should continue to check with their airline.
“We have identified that the issue was in our flight processing system.
“Our engineers are on site and working urgently to resume normal operations as quickly as possible.
“We recognise the ongoing disruption to travel, for which we sincerely apologise.
“Flights are still departing and airspace is open, but recovery will take some time.”
A spokesperson for Edinburgh Airport said: “Nats has confirmed it has implemented a fix to the technical issue that was impacting UK airspace, including Edinburgh.
“There will continue to be knock-on impacts throughout the rest of the day due to delays experienced across the UK.
“We are working closely with local air traffic control, airlines and other partners to minimise disruption where possible.
"Passengers should continue to check with their airline for the latest information on their flight."
AGS Airports, which runs Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton, said: “We are seeing some flights disrupted at all three of our airports.
“A technical issue affecting Nats air traffic control services is causing disruption to some flight departures.
“As a result, some services operating to and from our airports may experience delays.
“We apologise for any inconvenience and advise passengers to check with their airline for the latest flight information before travelling.”
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: "If your flight is cancelled or delayed, you're unlikely to be owed compensation by the airline as the technical issue is considered an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ and out of the airline's control.
“However, you do have a right to food or a hotel stay depending on the length of the delay, but be sure you keep the receipts as you will need to claim this back from the airline.
“If you are due to travel today or tomorrow, check the advice from your airport, tour operator, airline apps, or airport social media feeds for the most up to date advice.”
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