Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has asked the Civil Aviation Authority to conduct an independent review into the air traffic control problems that caused chaos for passengers at Manchester Airport

Lancashire holidaymakers have been urged to check before they travel as air traffic control problems continue to plague Manchester Airport.

The Nats service provides air traffic control to 15 UK airports, including Manchester. Tens of thousands of passengers were affected yesterday and thousands more face delays and cancellations.

Today 68 flights have been cancelled or delayed, including three flights to Heathrow, which has been badly hit by the Nats disruption.

The following departures have been cancelled at Manchester Airport today.

00.45 Sunexpress XQ3507 to Dalaman
06.00 Easyjet EZY2037 to Murcia
07.05 British Airways BA1379 to Heathrow
07.15 Easyjet EZY2105 to Paris
07.55 British Airways BA1381 to Heathrow
12.05 Indigo 6E032 to Mumbai
13.20 Vueling VY8747 to Barcelona
16.30 Sunexpress XQ535 to Antalya
19.00 Jet2 LS911 to Heraklion
19.50 British Airways BA1373 to Heathrow

The following departures have been delayed at Manchester Airport today.

05.45 Ryanair B38M to Lanzarote - departed 06.37
05.55 Jet2 LS941 to Girona - departed 06.41
06.00 TUI BY2322 to Ibiza - departed 06.51
06.00 TUI BY2300 to Malaga - departed 06.59
06.15 TUI BY2308 to Kos - departed 07.11
06.20 TUI BY2332 to Rhodes - departed 07.43
06.30 Jet2 LS831 to Palma de Mallorca - departed 07.32
06.30 Jet2 LS863 to Mahon - departed 07.20
06.30 Easyjet U2701 to Belfast - departed 07.17
06.30 Easyjet U2701 to Catania - departed 07.30
06.40 Easyjet U22057 to Heraklion - departed 07.38
06.45 TUI BY2344 to Mahon - departed 07.46
06.55 TUI BY2324 to Skiathos - departed 07.52
07.00 Jet2 LS1739 to Skiathos - departed 08.11
07.00 Jet2 LS879 to Alicante - departed 07.50
07.05 Easyjet U22027 to Ibiza - departed 07.57
07.45 Easyjet U22031 to Mahon - departed 08.32
08.00 Easyjet U22145 to Dalaman - departed 08.48
08.00 Easyjet U22201 to Berlin - departed 08.59
08.10 Aer Lingus EI203 to Dublin - departed 09.08
08.15 Jet2 LS809 to Malaga - departed 09.05
08.40 Etihad EY78 to Abu Dhabi - departed 09.43
08.40 Ryanair FR6596 to Barcelona - departed 12.09
08.55 TUI BY2382 to Salzburg - departed 10.07
09.00 Helvetic LX391 to Zurich - departed 10.10
09.10 TUI BY362 to Sharm el-Sheikh - departed 09.59
09.15 Ryanair FR9076 to Rhodes - departed 12.14
09.20 Easyjet U22271 to Tivat - departed 10.37
09.55 Ryanair FR3445 to Palma de Mallorca - departed 11.03
10.00 Easyjet U22209 to Lisbon - departed 12.42
10.35 Lufthansa LH2501 to Munich - departed 11.46
10.40 Virgin Atlantic VS109 to Atlanta - departed 11.41
10.40 Aegean A3639 to Athens - departed 11.35
11.00 Ryanair FR6816 to Milan - departed 12.00
11.00 KLM KL1032 to Amsterdam - departed 11.48
11.00 British Airways BA9252 to Heathrow - estimated departure 13.15
11.10 TUI BY138 to Montego Bay - departed 12.11
11.55 Ryanair FR5476 to Verona - estimated departure 12.47
11.55 Easyjet U22111 to Bordeaux - departed 12.55
12.00 Lufthansa LH947 to Frankfurt - estimated departure 13.05
12.30 British Airways BA268 to Heathrow - estimated departure 13.30
12.35 Ryanair FR2201 to Lanzarote - estimated departure 14.05
12.40 Easyjet U22065 to Kos - estimated departure 13.40
13.00 Air Algerie AH2059 to Algiers - estimated departure 14.25
13.25 Easyjet U22229 to Prague - estimated departure 14.22
14.25 Easyjet U22269 to Pafos - estimated departure 15.36
14.35 Ryanair FR4007 to Alicante - estimated departure 15.55
14.50 Jet2 LS829 to Tenerife - estimated departure 15.40
15.00 Ryanair FR1557 to Dublin - estimated departure 17.55
15.05 Jet2 LS1007 to Antalya - estimated departure 16.20
15.10 Jet2 LS921 to Dalaman - estimated departure 16.00
15.10 Jet2 LS873 to Faro - estimated departure 16.01
15.10 LS1029 Jet2 to Pafos - estimated departure 16.35
15.25 Ryanair FR4094 to Gdansk - estimated departure 16.45
15.45 TUI BY2370 to Kos - estimated 17.02
16.05 British Airways BA1369 to Heathrow - estimated departure 17.36
16.15 Jet2 LS851 to Funchal - estimated departure 16.57
16.30 Easyjet U22059 to Athens - estimated departure 17.08
16.35 Jet2 LS969 to Kos - estimated departure 17.48
17.20 Easyjet U22061 to Corfu - estimated departure 19.10
17.50 Ryanair FR3218 to Milan - estimated departure 20.59
18.20 Easyjet U22211 to Porto - estimated departure 19.45
19.00 Easyjet U22107 to Paris - estimated departure 20.01
19.30 Ryanair FR6630 to Cologne - estimated departure 21.34
20.20 Easyjet Y27270 to Palma de Mallorca - estimated departure 21.50
20.20 EasyJet U2707 to Belfast - estimated departure 21.15
20.25 Easyjet U23836 to Milan - estimated departure 21.15
21.15 Easyjet U25522 to Alicante - estimated departure 12.55am

Meanwhile, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told MPs she did not believe the air traffic control problems that have caused chaos for passengers were “unavoidable” and said she had asked the Civil Aviation Authority to conduct an independent review.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she does not ‘believe this issue was unavoidable’. | PA

placeholder image — Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she does not ‘believe this issue was unavoidable’. | PA

She told the Commons: “A four-hour air traffic outage yesterday left hundreds of thousands of passengers facing cancellations, diversions and delays. I would like to apologise wholeheartedly to passengers for this disruption.

“We often take for granted the way in which our aviation system just works, but yesterday that was not the case. Safety must remain air traffic controllers’ overriding priority and this morning I have spoken to Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe, who informed me this outage was due to a technical issue at their Swanwick site.

“So, while my understanding from Nats is that we can rule out a cyber attack on this occasion, I do not believe this issue was unavoidable.

“We also spoke this morning about how Nats responded to resolve and minimise the disruption as quickly as possible, and I am grateful to the airports and airlines who responded straight away.

“But I am clear that passengers should not have to face this disruption. I have therefore asked the CAA to conduct an independent review to establish cause and ensure that our air traffic control systems can get passengers to where they need to be and this … review will report to me within six months.”