Birmingham airport: Flights suspended due to air traffic control fault

No flights are landing at or leaving the airport
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Jacob Jarvis23 December 2018

Flights were temporarily suspended at Birmingham Airport on Sunday evening due to an air traffic control fault.

A statement from the airport said: "Birmingham Airport has had to temporarily suspend services due to an air traffic control fault.

"We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Passengers are advised to check with their airline regarding flight.

"We apologise for the inconvenience this is causing to our passengers."

In an update shortly after 8pm, the airport said: "Following the earlier Air Traffic Control technical fault, Birmingham Airport has now resolved the issue and operations have now resumed.

"We thank passengers for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience this has caused."

Some flights set to land at the airport were held or diverted elsewhere.

The incident concerned some people travelling home for Christmas.

One passenger, who had been stuck on a plane in Dusseldorf scheduled to fly to Birmingham, was told his flight will not leave Germany until at least 10pm.

Having been stuck on the plane an hour, Soran Jawhar said: "It's frustrating."

Others spoke of being "stuck" in locations such as Edinburgh and Dublin.

The issue came shortly after more than 140,000 passengers were disrupted at Gatwick Airport, after drone sightings shut it down across three days.

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