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Edinburgh airport flights resume after air traffic control IT issue

More than two dozen inbound and outbound flights were cancelled and others delayed after an IT glitch closed Edinburgh airport.

Services were disrupted for about two and a half hours from 4pm on Sunday.

The airport said that an air traffic control IT issue had been resolved shortly after 6.30pm last night.

Airlines affected included British Airways, EasyJet, Ryanair and Loganair.

But passengers were advised to check the status of flights with airlines.

“Passengers are thanked for their patience and understanding while our partners ANS (Air Navigation  Solutions) worked to resolve the issue,” the airport said. 

Aviation analytics firm Cirium estimated that at least 14 departures and 12 arrivals at Scotland’s busiest airport were cancelled. This equated to 9% of scheduled departures and 8% of all arrivals.

A number due to land at Edinburgh were diverted to Glasgow airport and two were reported to have been switched to Manchester.

Edinburgh airport was expected to see 303 flights on Sunday – 152 departing and 151 arriving – equating to more than 50,000 seats, according to Cirium.

The IT issue comes ahead of a planned strike by aircraft fuel tanker drivers employed by supplier North Air at Edinburgh airport from December 19 until January 6.

Referring to the threatened festive period industrial action, Jet2 said: “The situation is being monitored closely by our ground and operations teams. We plan to operate all flights to schedule, and our check in desks will close 40 minutes before your scheduled departure time. 

“We will also be putting contingency plans in place to ensure that our flights continue to operate as normal and any disruption is kept to an absolute minimum.”

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