Radar glitch adds to travel chaos

Air passengers suffered major disruption yesterday due to the heatwave and a technical problem with the UK’s air traffic control system.

Just as rail delays caused by the weather were easing, travellers using two of UK’s biggest airports were warned that the extreme conditions across Europe had caused flight cancellations and delays.

And air traffic control company Nats said a technical problem with a system at the Swanwick Air Traffic Control centre had been identified shortly after noon, which was restricting the rate of arrivals.

At 3pm the firm said it had “fixed the issue sufficiently to safely increase traffic flow rates” and expected an “improving picture through the rest of the day”.

European air traffic co-ordinating agency Eurocontrol said the problem was caused by an “issue with radar displays”.

That added to the woes at Heathrow and Gatwick as they were already asking passengers to check with airlines before travelling due to heatwave-related issues across Europe.

British Airways was due to take delivery of its first Airbus A350 aircraft at Heathrow, but the flight was postponed to prioritise aircraft with passengers on board.

Meanwhile, Network Rail engineers worked overnight to repair damage at several locations after the temperature of steel tracks soared to up to 20C higher than the air temperature, while overhead power lines also suffered heat-related damage.

Phil James from Network Rail apologised to commuters for delays and cancellations.