00:00Let's just bring you the very latest on what's happening in the skies above the UK.
00:04There is a problem we've heard from NATS, those are the National Air Traffic Control Service.
00:10There's a problem with planes taking off.
00:13Those landing are not affected, but we have heard anecdotally from people on the runways
00:19at a number of airports, including Gatwick and Heathrow, that they are stuck there waiting to take off.
00:26Heathrow have, in the last few moments, released a statement saying that the Air Traffic Control Service NATS
00:31is experiencing a technical issue which is impacting departing flights at UK airports.
00:36Arriving flights are not currently impacted.
00:38We are supporting our local NATS teams in their efforts to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
00:44We apologise for those disrupted and advised passengers to check with their airline for the latest flight information.
00:50Let's bring in Barnaby Papadopoulos, our reporter, who is keeping an eye across this.
00:54Do we have any idea what all is going on, Barnaby?
00:57Well, the short answer is no, but what this looks like is a problem with air traffic control services,
01:03and that's having a knock-on impact on flights departing from across the south of England and further afield as
01:10well.
01:10And as you say, over the last half an hour, we've started to see statements released from some of those
01:16airports
01:17outlining the impact that this is having on their services.
01:21You've just mentioned Heathrow Airport, Jane, the UK's largest.
01:25This says that this air traffic control problem is having an impact on departing flights.
01:30We've also heard in the last few moments from the airports in the Isle of Man,
01:34who say that this is a wider UK air traffic control issue.
01:38They say that this is causing restrictions across parts of the UK airspace network.
01:45Also, if you look at the departure pages on several websites, we can see flights are being delayed.
01:51And we can also see if we take Gatwick, for example, if you look at the live departures page for
01:56Gatwick Airport,
01:57we can see multiple flights where the gate has closed, but it doesn't appear that that plane has departed.
02:04No time of departure has been given, as is normal.
02:08And that's perhaps why we are starting to see on social media at the moment people posting about being stuck
02:15on planes on tarmac
02:17or being stuck in airports without really a sense as to when their flights are going to leave.
02:23Of course, air traffic control is absolutely essential for the safe running of flights.
02:28You can see on your screen there are a number of planes at Heathrow stuck on the tarmac there, it
02:35looks like,
02:35because unless air traffic control is working, these flights cannot depart safely.
02:41And that is why we're seeing these delays.
02:43The question right now, I think, for these airports and for passengers is how long is this going to last
02:50and what's caused it?
