ATC glitch causes flight disruptions

LONDON - A technical glitch at air navigation service provider NATS halted departures at London Heathrow and Gatwick Airport.

A system failure at NATS caused flight disruptions Tuesday. "We have identified that the issue was in our flight processing system," NATS said. Our engineers are on site and working urgently to resume normal operations as quickly as possible. Flights are still departing and airspace is open, but recovery will take some time."

According to flight tracking data, Heathrow airport suspended departures in the early afternoon hours but resumed operations shortly after.