Some Irish flights could be delayed until next week due to UK tech glitch

Stephen Porzio

Dublin Airport has issued fresh advice to passengers travelling on Tuesday as thousands remain stranded.

It has been reported that some flights into and out of Ireland could be delayed until next week.

This is as a result of the UK’s National Air Traffic Control Service (NATS) suffering a major technical glitch on Monday (August 28th) that left its system providing controllers with details of every aircraft and its route unable to function.

Due to the issue, NATS was forced to limit the number of flights it could manage.

A message from our Operations Director about today’s disruption. pic.twitter.com/C4LWX7VyM8

— NATS (@NATS) August 28, 2023

While the problem has since been rectified, the air traffic control service has said that “it will take some time for flights to return to normal”.

Since the glitch was identified, more than 100 flights in and out of Irish airports have been impacted and knock-on effects are expected to continue.

This is as the aviation industry attempts to serve both passengers due to fly in the coming days and those that have already had flights delayed.

Some experts have theorised that these knock-on effects could last until next week.

Thousands of passengers are stranded in Dublin airport on Tuesday as flight delays remain – Image by Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast about the delays was Liam Curry from Kilkenny, who was due to fly from Dublin Airport to Turkey with his wife and son on Monday afternoon via SunExpress airline.

Flight delays

“While we were looking at the boards, we saw these cancellations coming up and one of our neighbours sent us a message about the situation in the UK about all these outages and what not,” he explained.

“I was like: ‘All right, look, our flight is not cancelled. Let’s get in. Let’s go’.

“So, while we were queuing up to check in, we get a message that we’re going to be about 45 minutes delayed… It’s nothing in the grand scheme of things.

“But then when we went to try to go through security, we were stopped. They wouldn’t accept our boarding passes and when we went to someone for assistance, he said: ‘Oh, you’re coming in too early… Your flight’s not until almost 11pm.'”

Liam wound up sleeping on a bench in the airport’s Burger King, but is now due to fly to Turkey at the rescheduled time of 6.30pm on Tuesday evening.

In response to the UK technical glitch, Dublin Airport posted the following statement on Twitter on Tuesday morning:

“Passengers intending to fly from Dublin Airport today are advised to check the status of their flight with their airline, before travelling to the airport. Passengers needing to re-book flights are encouraged to do so via their airline’s app or website.

“Passengers travelling today can expect Dublin Airport to be busy, but additional airport resources are being deployed to help you on your way and to ensure high standards for passengers travelling through.

“For any car park customers delayed as a result of the ATC issues in the UK, we are waiving any additional parking fees they may have incurred. Impacted passengers should speak with a member of staff on the ground or use the intercom facility when exiting their car park.”

Passengers travelling today can expect Dublin Airport to be busy, but additional airport resources are being deployed to help you on your way and to ensure high standards for passengers travelling through. ✈️ (2/3)