All departures from Heathrow and Gatwick airports were grounded on Monday after a "technical failure" hit the UK's air traffic control system, causing widespread delays for thousands of passengers. The disruption, attributed to National Air Traffic Services (NATS), also affected departures from Luton, Manchester and Newcastle airports, with some passengers left stranded aboard aircraft on runways as far away as Alicante. Arriving flights were reportedly unaffected, though the incident adds to a run of recent problems at London's major airports.

NATS said engineers were on site investigating the fault and would provide updates via its website and social media, while Heathrow and Gatwick urged passengers to check in as normal and contact their airlines for the latest flight status. It follows a series of disruptions at Gatwick and Heathrow this year, including a plane becoming stuck on a Gatwick runway last week, a water supply failure at Gatwick in July, and two grass fires near Heathrow this summer that diverted flights to Manchester and Birmingham and destroyed roughly one hectare of grassland.