Edinburgh Airport IT glitch grounds flights this morning, Ryanair Budapest service affected
Passengers flying to or from Edinburgh Airport faced significant disruption on Friday morning after an IT issue with the airport’s air traffic control system temporarily halted all operations. Among the affected flights was a Ryanair service from Budapest, which was forced to remain on the tarmac.
Edinburgh Airport confirmed that the outage, linked to a problem with its air traffic control provider ANS, led to a full suspension of departures and arrivals between 10:00 and 15:00 Hungarian time, the Tudásmorzsák a repülésről Facebook page reported (it was later confirmed that the suspension did not last that long). Eurocontrol’s Network Manager Operations Centre reported that the airport was unable to process any flights during this period, prompting cancellations and diversions across multiple European routes.
Social media reports, including the post from Tudásmorzsák a repülésről, indicated that many aircraft were left stationary at gates or on remote stands, including the Budapest-bound Ryanair flight. Some passengers were reported to be waiting at the ends of runways, unable to board or depart.
By 11:30, after roughly an hour and a half of disruption, flight operations began to resume. The airport confirmed via social media that while departures and arrivals had restarted, many flights still faced delays, and some had been cancelled or diverted. Among the affected services were the 10:25 AM flight to Gatwick, which was cancelled, and flights to Prague, Lanzarote, Krakow, Malaga, and Belfast, all delayed, some by over two hours, according to the Independent. Arriving flights from Bristol, Istanbul, and Stansted were also impacted, with some diverted to alternative airports.
A spokesperson for Edinburgh Airport expressed appreciation for passengers’ patience: “Flights at Edinburgh Airport have now resumed following the IT issue with ANS, our air traffic control provider. We thank passengers for their understanding.” The airport advised travellers to check directly with their airlines for updated information on their flights.