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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Alfie Packham and Jane Clinton

‘Baggage reclaim was pandemonium’: passengers hit by airport IT chaos in UK recount their ordeals

Los Angeles Heathrow British Airways Edinburgh Marrakech Nats Virgin
Crowds of travellers sit among piles of luggage at Heathrow airport's departure lounge
Tens of thousands of passengers at airports, including Heathrow and Gatwick, faced travel chaos after planes could not take off safely. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

More than 2,000 flights have been cancelled after an air traffic control system failure that has thrown airports across the UK into chaos. Nats, the air traffic control provider, fixed the problem within hours on Tuesday, but hundreds of thousands of passengers were hit by further delays and cancellations on Wednesday.

Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of Nats, has been given a week to report back on the reasons for the technical failure.

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