Flights grounded for four hours at Edinburgh Airport due to ‘IT issue’

Simon Calder and Alex Croft
Updated ·2-min read
Going places? At least 5,000 passengers had their flights cancelled or diverted after an air-traffic control IT failure (Getty Images)
Going places? At least 5,000 passengers had their flights cancelled or diverted after an air-traffic control IT failure (Getty Images)

All flights were grounded at Edinburgh Airport for around four hours on Sunday afternoon and evening due to an IT issue with air-traffic control.

The failure is believed to have begun at about 2.30pm, forcing at least a dozen inbound planes to be diverted to Glasgow, Newcastle and Manchester, from locations including Istanbul, Gran Canaria and Tenerife.

At least 22 flights were cancelled, to destinations including Amsterdam, Cologne and Berlin. Around 5,000 passengers have had flights cancelled or diverted.

In a post on X, Edinburgh Airport said that “no flights are currently taking off or landing” due to an “IT issue with air-traffic control”.

ADVERTISEMENT

The airport added: “Engineers are working to resolve the issue. Passengers should check their flight status with their airline before travelling to the airport.”

Departures resumed at 6.42pm, with a Ryanair flight to Cork taking off four hours behind schedule. Disruption continued for the rest of the evening and into Monday morning with aircraft, crew and passengers out of position.

The most-delayed plane was a Ryanair flight to Milan Bergamo, which was six-and-a-half hours late and arrived at its destination at 4am.

According to the flight data specialist, Cirium, Edinburgh Airport was expected to see 303 flights on Sunday (152 departing and 151 arriving) – equating to over 50,000 seats.

Edinburgh is Scotland’s busiest airport, handling around 40,000 passengers per day.

Air-traffic control at the airport is handled by Air Navigation Solutions Ltd (ANSL). This is a competitor to Nats, the main UK air-traffic control provider, which suffered a nationwide failure of both its main and back-up systems on 28 August 2023.

ADVERTISEMENT

A spokesperson for ANSL said of the failure: “We have determined that it related to a new element of our systems at Edinburgh Airport. A full investigation is being conducted to determine the exact cause of this issue.

“Our engineers were working on-site at pace to fix an issue on a new element of one of our systems. Safety is our number one priority, and this time was required to ensure that our systems were operating robustly and effectively before they were brought back to service

“When the problem occurred, the time was taken to ensure that our systems operate robustly and are stable before operations were recommenced. A comprehensive investigation is now under way to ensure this issue does not happen again.”

Many of the passengers affected by cancellations were seeking to connect to intercontinental flights at airports including London Heathrow, Istanbul, Paris and Amsterdam.

The first Monday morning Edinburgh-Paris departure on Air France was cancelled because of the disruption.

Under air passengers’ rights rules, all travellers whose flights are cancelled are entitled to be flown to their final destination as soon as possible, including on a rival carrier, and provided with meals and, if necessary, accommodation, while they wait.

Latest stories

  • Hotel Employees Are Revealing Their WILDEST "Karen" Encounters, And These People Have The Patience Of Saints

    "We had to call the police to have him removed while he was still screaming that we ruined the tournament by allowing a hurricane to blow through."

  • Young driver cops warning over little-known road rule with $323 fine: 'Really bad habit'

    The young woman said she 'didn't know' the simple act was illegal until she was pulled over by police.

  • Fresh option for Aussie tourists

    Australian flight capacity to a huge Asian destination has increased with the arrival of a new airline in the country servicing Sydney and Melbourne.

  • Home camera captures scary moment Aussie family hit by out-of-control sedan in driveway

    After bucking her 3-year-old into her carseat, the young mum suddenly notices the immense danger heading towards them.

  • Major speed limit change at popular Aussie camping beach sparks debate: 'Ridiculous'

    The drastic change to driving speeds on the beach was recently announced but it seems many aren't getting the message.

  • Thirteen dead after naval vessel hits boat off Mumbai

    A crash involving an Indian naval boat and a passenger ferry has left at least 13 people dead off the coast of Mumbai, officials say.

  • Aussie couple's free 'hidden gem' campsite discovery: 'Like stepping into a postcard'

    Road trips and camping have seen a massive spike in popularity in recent times, thanks to being an affordable way to see some really spectacular places in our own backyard.

  • Dashcam Footage Shows Fatal Honolulu Plane Crash

    Two people were killed when a plane crashed into a vacant building near Daniel K Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 17.Dashcam footage from Ken Schmidt shows the moment the plane crashed. The plane can be seen flying low before it crashes in a fiery explosion.“I just witnessed a plane crash,” Schmidt says on a phone call in the video. He describes seeing the plane close to the ground and thinking the situation looked dangerous, before seeing the plume of smoke.According to local news, the plane, a Kamaka Air Cessna 208 Caravan, was conducting a training flight when it crashed into a vacant building that was due to be demolished.The two victims of the crash had yet to be identified by officials. Credit: Ken Schmidt via Storyful

  • An Ultra-Rare 1969 Shelby GT500 Once Owned by Carroll Shelby Is Heading to Auction

    The muscle car is one of just 18 examples to leave the factory in Grabber Yello.

  • Shocking Footage Shows Driver's High-Speed Crash After 'Bottomless Brunch'

    Footage showing a car lifting into the air as it crashed at speed right in front of a house in Nottingham has been released by UK law enforcement to highlight the dangers of drink driving.Nottinghamshire Police said the driver, Lindami Mremi, was speeding in the early hours of June 17, 2023, after attending a “bottomless brunch” with friends. He “wrongly thought if he kept eating through the evening that it would absorb the alcohol he’d had and that he would be under the legal drink-drive limit.”“It was a misconception which could have easily resulted in the loss of life,” police said.Mremi, who appeared at Nottingham Crown Court for sentencing on Wednesday, December 11, was given a 24-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months, and a 12-month driving ban.Det Insp Steven King, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Drink or drug driving is completely unacceptable.”“Lives are destroyed by drink-driving. We hope by releasing the shocking footage in this case that people will think twice before deciding to drive while under the influence of alcohol,” he said. Credit: Nottinghamshire Police via Storyful

  • 3 Things That Will Plummet in Price This Winter

    Are low prices a thing of the past? It certainly seems to feel this way as Americans continue to struggle with increasing costs on everything from eggs to streaming services, despite cooling...

  • Waymo robotaxis are coming to Tokyo in 2025

    Waymo will begin testing its autonomous vehicle technology in Tokyo in early 2025, the first time the Alphabet company's robotaxis have driven on public roads outside the U.S. The move to Japan is part of Waymo's "road trips," a development program that involves bringing its technology to a variety of cities and testing it — with each city having different challenges. In Tokyo, the Waymo robotaxis will face left-hand driving and a dense urban environment.

  • Honda, Nissan in talks to set up holding company, source says

    (Reuters) -Japanese auto giants Honda and Nissan are in talks to set up a holding company, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, a move that would allow them to share more resources amid competition upending the global industry. The talks, first reported by the Nikkei newspaper, would allow the two automakers to cooperate more closely on technology at a time when the industry is being rewritten by the likes of Tesla and Chinese rivals. The talks are aimed at setting up an umbrella holding company that Nissan and Honda would then fall under, said the person, who declined to be identified because the information had not been made public.

  • Irish travelling home via Holyhead for Christmas make ‘costly’ new arrangements

    The closure has left thousands of Irish people planning to travel through the port to Ireland for Christmas scrambling for alternative transport.

  • Mexico hotspot cracks down on taxi drivers assaulting tourists doing this common thing

    The popular Mexican tourist area Quintana Roo is cracking down on taxi drivers who assault travelers trying to use rideshare apps.

  • Two dead after plane crash near Honolulu airport

    ‘We’re out of control here’ – Kamaka Air pilot to air traffic control

  • The Self-Driving Computer in Brand New Teslas Is Failing

    New and Unimproved It seems that Tesla's self-driving efforts have hit another snag, because the computers built into its cars that run its semi-autonomous driving software are failing, Electrek reports, adding to the Elon Musk-owned automaker's track record of dodgy quality control. The issue has been apparent for several weeks but has not received significant attention until now. According to complaints that Electrek says it's received from owners, it's in fact brand new Teslas that are experi

  • Shocking moment car nearly hits family

    Shocking footage has emerged of a family narrowly avoiding being hit by an out-of-control car, which veered off the road and smashed into their parked car.

  • Fiji quells cocktail fears as Aussie recovers in ICU

    One Australian remains in hospital while two others have returned home after after a suspected mass-poisoning case at a Fiji resort.

  • Man arrested after boy, 2, died in crash

    The two-year-old boy died and four adults were hurt in a crash involving a stolen car.