Heathrow Chaos: Air Traffic Control Glitches Cause Flight Cancellations

Amidst a nationwide air travel disruption, Heathrow Airport faced cancellations of 16 flights on Thursday, following a technical glitch in Britain's air traffic control system. The problem, affecting several airports, was managed by switching to a backup, as confirmed by National Air Traffic Services (NATS).

This recent incident at NATS, occurring just two years after a similar outage, led to 122 flight cancellations and impacted airports like Gatwick near London and Edinburgh in Scotland. Transport minister Heidi Alexander aims to discuss preventive measures in a meeting with NATS' chief executive Martin Rolfe.

Adding to the chaos, Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, had previously been affected by a fire in March, highlighting ongoing challenges. Ryanair's COO Neal McMahon has called for the resignation of Rolfe, criticizing previous lessons unlearnt since past disruptions.

(With inputs from agencies.)