Yahoo Finance Flights Suspended As London Airspace Shut
Airspace over London has been closed and flights at southern England airports are suspended until 6pm due to a computer failure.
Heathrow said there were delays because of a power outage at the NATS air traffic control centre in Swanwick, Hampshire.
Gatwick said there were no flights departing but flights were arriving.
Stansted said departing flights were suspended. It said: "All departing flights are grounded. We are still accepting arriving aircraft at the moment.
London City Airport said there will be no departures until further notice.
European air control agency Eurocontrol said there had been a computer failure.
It said: "Engineers are working on the problem and more information will be given when available. Only already airborne traffic will be accepted."
NATS (National Air Traffic Services) confirmed there was a technical problem at Swanwick.
It said: "We apologise for any delays and our incident response team has been mobilised.
"Every possible action is being taken to assist in resolving the situation and to confirm the details.
"Further information will be released as it becomes available."
One passenger caught up in the travel chaos was Matt Warren. He tweeted: "Stuck on the tarmac at Heathrow airport. Air traffic control failures. No flights in or out. "
Pilot Chris McGee said the impact would be huge as the closure would hit all airports in London and across the South.
"Friday is a very, very busy time and we are in the peak time," she said.
Manchester airport said it was unaffected by the airspace closure and was ready to accept diverted flights.
The state-of-the art centre at Swanwick has been subject to a number of computer glitches since NATS moved there from its old headquarters in West Drayton in west London in the early part of the last decade.
One of the worst problems was a year ago - on Saturday December 7 2013 - when thousands of passengers were left stranded when hundreds of flights were grounded following a technical fault at the Hampshire centre.
More follows...
