Flights grounded at Edinburgh Airport due to air traffic control issue

Flights to and from Edinburgh Airport are taking off again after they were grounded due to an IT issue within air traffic control.

At least 30 of more than 150 flights scheduled to depart from and arrive at the airport this evening were cancelled due to the issue, which appeared to start after 2pm.

Several others diverted to Manchester and Glasgow.

In a post on X this afternoon, an airport spokesperson said engineers were working to resolve the issue.

"Passengers should continue to check their flight status with their airline before travelling to the airport," it said.

In an update, Air Navigation Solutions, which is the air traffic control provider at Edinburgh Airport, said flights have now resumed.

"A technical issue affected one of our systems at Edinburgh Airport earlier this afternoon.

"Our engineers have restored the system to operation," it said in a statement to Sky News, adding flight operations at the airport restarted at 6.25pm.

"We regret the inconvenience that has been caused."

It is not the only disruption the airport may face in the run-up to Christmas.

North Air fuel tanker drivers based at Edinburgh Airport are planning to walk out for almost three weeks in a dispute over pay.

The industrial action led by Unite will begin at 5am on 18 December and end at 4.59am on 6 January.

The pay dispute relates to a rejected 4.5% pay offer by North Air after "years of below-inflation pay increases", according to Unite.

North Air is the only fuel supply company for airlines flying out of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Airport - which served 14.4 million passengers last year - is used by 35 airlines flying to 152 destinations.

(c) Sky News 2024: Flights grounded at Edinburgh Airport due to air traffic control issue