- By Ajeet Kumar
- Wed, 09 Sep 2026 08:14 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
- Air India flight AI 131 diverted to Zurich.
- London Heathrow faced major air traffic control disruption.
- Thousands of passengers stranded across UK airports.
London/Zurich/New Delhi: Air India flight AI 131 from Mumbai to London was diverted and landed in Zurich amid an air traffic control-related disruption at London Heathrow Airport. The flight, carrying over 290 passengers, landed at Zurich Airport after the disruption affected operations at Heathrow. Initially, passengers remained onboard the aircraft at Zurich and were instructed to wait as the situation at London Heathrow was expected to be resolved. However, the flight was subsequently cancelled, and all passengers deboarded at Zurich Airport.
#TravelAdvisory
— Air India (@airindia) September 8, 2026
Flights operating to and from airports in the United Kingdom have been impacted by a technical fault at NATS, the UK air traffic control provider. As a result, Air India has been forced to divert, delay or cancel multiple flights scheduled to operate to and from…
"Flights operating to and from airports in the United Kingdom have been impacted by a technical fault at NATS, the UK air traffic control provider. As a result, Air India has been forced to divert, delay or cancel multiple flights scheduled to operate to and from UK airports. This may lead to delays in some of our other services, too, as our aircraft and crews are out of position following the disruption," Air India said in a statement on X.
What led to massive chaos at Heathrow Airport?
The major development came amid massive chaos at London airport following an air traffic control issue. This disrupted travel across Britain on Tuesday, cancelling more than 1,000 flights and leaving passengers stranded for hours on airport runways and in terminals, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
Britain's National Air Traffic Services said it had resolved a problem in its flight processing system in the evening, but delays rippled across 15 UK airports and beyond as airlines and airports worked to clear a huge backlog of delayed flights. Josie Donoghue spent three hours stuck on a plane at Gatwick before her Ryanair flight to Ireland was cancelled.
"Getting through that airport was like trying to get out of Alcatraz," she said, referring to the notorious former island prison in San Francisco Bay. "It's just an absolute nightmare down there. It's the only word I can use to describe it."
Departures resume, but arrivals face massive disruptions
Departures at London Heathrow resumed but the busy airport suspended arrivals for the rest of the night because of the disruption and warned of further delays. Passengers on a British Airways flight that had been due to fly to Baltimore disembarked after four hours on the ground at Heathrow. During the long delay, flight attendants served pasta and chicken curry while patient passengers watched movies or strolled up and down the aisles.
Due to the earlier technical issue affecting @NATS, arrivals into Heathrow have been suspended for the remainder of Tuesday 8 September to ensure the safety of our passengers and colleagues.
— Heathrow Airport (@HeathrowAirport) September 8, 2026
Departures have resumed, but disruption is expected to continue, so we advise passengers… pic.twitter.com/gGRRBwCeLa
Passengers say a total mess
But passengers then learned their problems were far from over. There was mayhem at the baggage claim area and they were told no one could help them and to file claims for their bags.
British Airways said it was forced to cancel or divert more than 100 flights. Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers had been disrupted and it had cancelled more than 50 scheduled flights. "The severity of the issue means there will be a significant knock-on impact," a British Airways spokesperson said.
"This incident was entirely out of our control and incredibly frustrating for our customers and colleagues, with aircraft and crews ending up out of place."
Some passengers took to social media to complain about being stuck on planes for hours and expressed frustration about a lack of communication from airlines.
Affected airports included Stansted and City in London, as well as those in Manchester, Birmingham, Gatwick and Scotland. They warned passengers to check the status of their flight with their airline. Budget airline EasyJet said some of its flights were "unable to operate" and that the system failure caused "delays to flights across Europe".
(With inputs from agencies)