Flight chaos to last for days after air traffic control fault

Britain’s Transport Secretary Mark Harper said it would take days to solve widespread flight disruption to and from the country after air traffic control systems suffered a technical problem.

Authorities canceled more than 1,500 flights on Monday, one of the busiest days of the week in the country, after air traffic controllers had to switch to manual systems.

Harper added that government officials do not believe the technical problem was caused by a cyberattack.

“There will be some impact today and I think it will last for a few more days as airlines get their planes and services back to normal,” he told the BBC on Tuesday.

Air traffic analysis company Cirium reported that 790 flights departing from British airports and 785 scheduled to arrive on Monday were canceled, meaning more than a quarter of all flights to and from the country were affected by the problem.

Heathrow Airport, Britain’s busiest airport, asked travelers via platform X, formerly Twitter, to contact their airlines before heading to the airport on Tuesday.

Airlines said they are making changes to their flight schedules in an effort to carry as many passengers as possible, but some planes and their crews are not where they are supposed to be.

“We are doing everything we can to get affected customers back on their way,” BA said on platform X.