Blog

Feb 26, 2024

Bristol Airport flights delayed and cancelled after air traffic control problem

Some Bristol flights are delayed by more than eight hours. Sign up to our daily newsletter for the latest local and breaking news in Bristol. We have more newsletters Sign up to our daily newsletter

Some Bristol flights are delayed by more than eight hours.

Sign up to our daily newsletter for the latest local and breaking news in Bristol.

We have more newsletters

Sign up to our daily newsletter for the latest local and breaking news in Bristol.

We have more newsletters

People heading to Bristol Airport today are facing long delays and cancellations to their flights, as air traffic controllers across the country work to get planes in the air amid a critical technical error that has caused chaos. Some flights due to leave this evening have already been delayed into tomorrow.

The error has stopped the National Air Traffic System from automatically creating flight plans for flights in and out of the UK. This does not mean that all passengers are stuck on the tarmac, just that aviation experts have to manually enter each aeroplane's flight plan manually

As this manual operation of each of the thousands of flights in and out of the UK takes much longer, airports are reducing the flow of arrivals and departures, meaning travel chaos for many holidaymakers both heading and returning from abroad. This has already caused severe delays and cancellations - delaying some Bristol flights by more than eight hours.

READ MORE: Every place in Bristol with a food hygiene rating of zero

A statement from the airport reads: “Bristol Airport like other UK Airports has been affected by the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) technical issue which is impacting UK airspace. Customers are advised to contact their airline to check their flight's latest flight info, and before leaving for the Airport.”

Have you been affected by the airport chaos? Get in touch and tell us your story, email [email protected]

Below is the current Bristol departures board.

2:40 PM

LS1817

Dalaman (DLM)

Jet2

Est.dep. 5:05 PM

2:40 PM

Dalaman (DLM)

Jet2

Est.dep. 6:15 PM

2:45 PM

U22775

Paris (CDG)

easyJet

Est.dep. 2:45 PM

2:50 PM

U22931

Copenhagen (CPH)

easyJet

Est.dep. 9:08 PM

3:20 PM

SI4485

Jersey (JER)

Blue Islands

Est.dep. 3:20 PM

3:20 PM

SI485

Jersey (JER)

Blue Islands

Est.dep. 3:35 PM

3:30 PM

BY750

Enfidha (NBE)

TUI

Est.dep. 3:45 PM

3:35 PM

U2233

Isle of Man (IOM)

easyJet

Est.dep. 5:54 PM

3:35 PM

U26712

Lisbon (LIS)

easyJet

Canceled

3:40 PM

U22923

Amsterdam (AMS)

easyJet

Est.dep. 3:40 PM

3:50 PM

BY846

Marrakesh (RAK)

TUI

Est.dep. 4:05 PM

4:00 PM

EI3843

Cork (ORK)

Aer Lingus Regional

Est.dep. 4:00 PM

4:00 PM

FR509

Dublin (DUB)

Ryanair

Est.dep. 4:00 PM

4:10 PM

U22769

Bordeaux (BOD)

easyJet

Est.dep. 1:08 AM

4:10 PM

U27353

Paris (ORY)

easyJet

Canceled

4:15 PM

LS1901

Chania (CHQ)

Jet2

Est.dep. 4:30 PM

4:25 PM

U22819

Mykonos (JMK)

easyJet

Est.dep. 12:57 AM

4:30 PM

U22925

Amsterdam (AMS)

easyJet

Est.dep. 5:10 PM

4:40 PM

U2227

Belfast (BFS)

easyJet (NEO Livery)

Est.dep. 4:51 PM

4:45 PM

BY6164

Burgas (BOJ)

TUI

Est.dep. 5:00 PM

4:45 PM

U22941

Enfidha (NBE)

easyJet

Est.dep. 1:06 AM

4:55 PM

FR4121

Malaga (AGP)

Ryanair

Est.dep. 4:55 PM

5:05 PM

FR8296

Alicante (ALC)

Ryanair

Est.dep. 5:05 PM

5:10 PM

U22849

Dalaman (DLM)

easyJet

Est.dep. 5:10 PM

5:15 PM

U2241

Newcastle (NCL)

easyJet

Est.dep. 1:12 AM

5:25 PM

U22735

Gran Canaria (LPA)

easyJet

Est.dep. 1:17 AM

5:30 PM

KL1054

Amsterdam (AMS)

KLM

Canceled

5:40 PM

U22885

Geneva (GVA)

easyJet

Est.dep. 12:56 AM

6:00 PM

FR9336

Girona (GRO)

Ryanair

Est.dep. 6:00 PM

6:10 PM

U22881

Basel (BSL)

easyJet

Est.dep. 1:11 AM

6:15 PM

U22811

Corfu (CFU)

easyJet

Est.dep. 1:07 AM

6:35 PM

U22705

Barcelona (BCN)

easyJet

Est.dep. 3:20 AM

6:45 PM

U2207

Glasgow (GLA)

easyJet

Est.dep. 7:11 PM

6:50 PM

LX481

Zurich (ZRH)

Helvetic Airways

Est.dep. 6:50 PM

6:50 PM

U22873

Faro (FAO)

easyJet

Est.dep. 8:44 PM

7:00 PM

EI3285

Dublin (DUB)

Aer Lingus Regional

Est.dep. 7:55 PM

7:05 PM

FR8234

Palma de Mallorca (PMI)

Ryanair

Est.dep. 7:20 PM

7:15 PM

FR3385

Limoges (LIG)

Ryanair

Est.dep. 7:30 PM

7:30 PM

U24980

Toulouse (TLS)

easyJet

Canceled

7:30 PM

T3879

Bournemouth (BOH)

Eastern Airways

Est.dep. 7:45 PM

7:40 PM

EI3287

Dublin (DUB)

Aer Lingus Regional

Est.dep. 7:40 PM

7:45 PM

U27004

Malaga (AGP)

easyJet

Canceled

7:50 PM

U2219

Edinburgh (EDI)

easyJet

Est.dep. 2:08 AM

7:55 PM

LM46

Aberdeen (ABZ)

Loganair

Est.dep. 7:55 PM

7:55 PM

U27268

Palma de Mallorca (PMI)

easyJet

Canceled

8:05 PM

U22727

Ibiza (IBZ)

easyJet (NEO Livery)

Est.dep. 8:06 PM

8:10 PM

U2229

Belfast (BFS)

easyJet

Est.dep. 8:59 PM

8:10 PM

U22761

Nantes (NTE)

easyJet

Est.dep. 4:37 AM

8:15 PM

U2209

Glasgow (GLA)

easyJet

Est.dep. 5:13 AM

8:20 PM

U22743

Alicante (ALC)

easyJet

Est.dep. 4:32 AM

8:45 PM

U2320

Edinburgh (EDI)

easyJet

Est.dep. 6:39 AM

8:55 PM

FR3161

Barcelona (BCN)

Ryanair

Est.dep. 8:55 PM

In it's most-recent statement, NATS said: "This morning’s technical issue is affecting our ability to automatically process flight plans. Until our engineers have resolved this, flight plans are being input manually which means we cannot process them at the same volume, hence we have applied traffic flow restrictions. Our technical experts are looking at all possible solutions to rectify this as quickly as possible.

"Our priority is ensuring every flight in the UK remains safe and doing everything we can to minimise the impact. Please contact your airline for information on how this may affect your flight. We are sincerely sorry for the disruption this is causing."