Travel disruption at Cork Airport as flights cancelled or delayed amid UK air traffic control issues 

THERE was major travel disruption in Cork on Monday as a number of flights in and out of Cork Airport were cancelled or delayed due to a "technical issue" with UK air traffic control systems.

The UK National Air Traffic Service (NATS) flight planning system issue occurred on Monday, with NATS telling BBC News that engineers were working to find and fix the fault and that while UK airspace was not closed, air traffic flow restrictions were put in place to maintain safety.

The issue was resolved on Monday evening but airlines continued to face unavoidable cancellations and delays.

Cork Airport confirmed on Monday that the air traffic control issues in the UK had resulted in delays and cancellations to some flights.

Speaking to The Echo, a spokesperson for Cork Airport said: “Air traffic control issues in the UK today [Monday] are resulting in delays and cancellations to flights into and out of Cork Airport."

The airport advised all passengers to check the status of their flight with their airline in advance of travelling to the airport. 

A statement released on Monday evening by Aer Lingus read: “While the UK National Air-Traffic Service (NATS) flight planning system is now resolved, like all airlines using UK airspace, we continue to face unavoidable cancellations and delays.

“We are doing everything possible to minimise any further disruption to our customers and we apologise to all those impacted for the inconvenience caused, which is due to circumstances outside of our control.

“We continue to advise passengers to check the status of their flight before coming to the airport.” 

A number of Aer Lingus flights into and out of Cork Airport were cancelled on Monday, including Aer Lingus Flight EI715 from London Heathrow and Aer Lingus Flight EI3842 to Bristol.

A number of Ryanair flights to and from London, as well as KLM flights to and from Amsterdam and Lufthansa flights to and from Frankfurt, were also affected.

Ryanair issued a statement informing all affected passengers of their options to change flights free of charge to another Ryanair flight or receive a full refund.

“We sincerely apologise for this UK AT failure, which is beyond Ryanair's control and is affecting all airlines operating to/from the UK today, Mon 28 August,” the statement read.

Flights into Cork Airport on Monday night were due to operate as scheduled with the exception of KLM Flight KL1089 from Amsterdam, which was cancelled.

Of the flights scheduled to depart Cork Airport on Monday night, Aer Lingus Flight EI724 to London Heathrow was cancelled.