UK air travel disruption to last for days: transport secretary

LONDON - British Transport Secretary Mark Harper said on Tuesday that the widespread travel disruption could last for days, after flights were canceled or delayed due to a technical fault in the air traffic control (ATC) system.

"Lots of flights were canceled and it is going to take some days to get people back to where they should be," he told the BBC.

Data from an aviation analytics company showed that more than 1,500 flights, equivalent to over a quarter of all flights, in and out of the United Kingdom (UK) were canceled on Monday after the ATC system was forced to revert to a manual backup system.

As of Tuesday, 5 percent of the planned flights departing and arriving at airports in the UK have been canceled by 9:00 am local time (0900 GMT).

There will have to be an independent review at "a problem of this magnitude," said Harper, adding that there was no cyber attack involved.

Some airlines have warned passengers of "unavoidable delays" while adjusting their schedules.

Airports across the UK have advised passengers to check the status of their flights directly with their airlines before travelling to the airports.