Additional Coverage:
Edinburgh Airport Operations Grounded by IT Glitch, Flights Resume After Hour-Long Stoppage
Edinburgh, Scotland – Flights at Edinburgh Airport experienced significant disruption Friday morning after an IT outage in air traffic control systems forced the closure of the runway for approximately one hour. The technical glitch led to a cascade of cancellations, diversions, and delays for both domestic and international services.
The airport confirmed the issue was localized to its air traffic control provider and was not connected to a broader internet outage affecting Cloudflare. Despite the localized nature, the impact was felt by major airlines including British Airways, Easyjet, and Ryanair, as well as transatlantic carriers United Airlines and Delta Air Lines. A Delta flight inbound from New York was notably rerouted to Dublin.
Passengers reported extended waits on the tarmac, with some flights held for up to two hours. While flights resumed around 10:40 a.m. local time, the ripple effects of the outage, including backlogs and mispositioned aircraft and crews, continued to cause delays throughout the day.
In a statement, Edinburgh Airport expressed gratitude to passengers for their “patience and understanding.” The air traffic control service provider, Air Navigation Solutions (ANS), headquartered at London Gatwick Airport, confirmed the IT issue.
A spokesperson for ANS stated, “Safety is our number one priority, and our engineers worked at pace to restore system capability as quickly as possible.” The National Air Traffic Services (NATS), responsible for the majority of UK airspace, also offered its support to affected airlines.
Edinburgh Airport, which typically manages around 43,000 passengers daily with flights to 155 destinations, has previously faced similar technology-related disruptions, including a Crowdstrike outage in July 2024 that impacted numerous airports globally.