Travel chaos as ALL departures at Heathrow and Gatwick are grounded over air traffic control 'technical failure'

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 09:44 EDT, 8 September 2026 | Updated: 10:05 EDT, 8 September 2026 All departures at Heathrow and Gatwick have been grounded due to an air traffic control 'technical failure'. Thousands of passengers are facing travel disruption and flight delays as a result of the issue. People are being advised to check in as normal and check with their airlines before travel. Passengers at several airports across the country, including Luton, Manchester and Newcastle, have also reported delays. One person posted on X: 'We are currently sat on Alicante tarmac going to Manchester and this is affecting us. Not just London!' 'Luton airport too! We're stranded on the actual plane,' another added. A spokesperson for National Air Traffic Services said: 'We are investigating a technical issue which is causing some disruption to flight departures.'Our engineers are on site and we will provide an update as soon as we can. Thousands of passengers are facing travel disruption and flight delays as a result of the issue (file image)'We apologise for the delay this will cause to journeys, passengers should check with their airline on the status of their flight.'We will provide updates on www.nats.aero and on X - @NATS.'A spokesperson for Heathrow Airport added: 'The air traffic control service is experiencing a technical issue which is impacting departing flights at UK airports. Arriving flights are not currently impacted. 'We are supporting our local NATS team in their efforts to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We will provide updated information when we have it. 'We apologise to those disrupted and advise passengers to check with their airline for latest flight information.'A spokesperson for Jersey Airport added: 'UK air traffic control is currently experiencing issues which is impacting flights across the UK including services between Jersey and UK.'Passengers are advised to check the latest flight information directly with their airline.'It is the latest issue to affect passengers flying out of the UK, with flights at Gatwick brought to a standstill last week after a plane became stuck on the runway. The plane was surrounded by several fire engines and the runway was closed for around 50 minutes.Meanwhile, in July passengers at Gatwick were left without running water due to an issue with the supply. Flyers were unable to flush toilets, wash their hands or refill water bottles for hours during the outage. Heathrow has also been impacted by two grass fires this summer, which have caused delays to flights. One flight from San Francisco was diverted away from Heathrow towards Manchester and another from San Diego landed in Birmingham due to a blaze on September 5.In early August flights were disrupted after a grass fire ignited near Heathrow's southern runway.One hectare of grassland was destroyed by the fire as 18 inbound flights were diverted to other airports.Are YOU affected? Email: olivia.christie@dailymail.co.uk