Flights have been disrupted at London Gatwick Airport (LGW), one of the UK’s busiest airports, after an IT issue in the Air Traffic Control tower on January 6, 2022.
Three flights were diverted during the issues, which were resolved fairly quickly during the morning arrivals period. Other planes also had to hold near the airport while the problem was tackled.
“Earlier IT issues in the Air Traffic Control tower this morning have been resolved and flights are arriving and departing the airport as normal,” Gatwick Airport said via social media.
However, it cautioned that passengers may still experience delays as a result of the earlier outage, which caused delays to both arriving and departing aircraft.
Earlier IT issues in the Air Traffic Control tower this morning have been resolved and flights are arriving and departing the airport as normal.
Some flights may still experience delays and we advise you to check the status of your flight with your airline. https://t.co/YU90yEER2i
— Gatwick Airport LGW (@Gatwick_Airport) January 6, 2022
The Guardian reported that the LGW tower had to shut down a troublesome IT system at 7:25 local time (7:25 UTC), with the system returning to normal at 9:10 local time.
The disruption is minimal compared to a massive computer meltdown that hit British Airways in May 2017. A computer system failure after a power supply issue left 75,000 passengers stranded.