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First Posted: 12/7/2013 (AP) Scores of flights were delayed or canceled at Britain's busiest airports Saturday because of a technical problem at a main air traffic control center.
National Air Traffic Service, which controls the crowded airspace over England, said it was having a problem switching between nighttime and busier daytime operations at its control center in Swanwick, southern England.
Spokeswoman Juliet Kennedy said the glitch was preventing staff opening new control positions to deal with busier daytime traffic, meaning the service was struggling to handle the volume of flights.
"At the moment we don't know when we will be able to rectify the problem," she told the BBC.
The Association of British Travel Agents said the trouble was unlikely to be resolved before 2 p.m. (1400 GMT, 9 a.m. EST).
Heathrow Airport Europe's busiest had delays of an hour or more on many morning departures, and canceled several dozen short-haul flights to destinations such as Nice, France; Milan; and Istanbul.
London's Stansted airport said departing flights were delayed between 30 minutes and two hours because of restrictions on air space and the flow of planes. Gatwick airport said 20 percent of flights were being delayed.
Spillover delays were reported across Britain and at Dublin airport in Ireland.
The air traffic service normally handles up to 6,000 arriving and departing flights a day from its bases at Swanwick and at Prestwick in Scotland.
<a title="Associated Press" href="http://www.ap.org" class="url org fn">Associated Press</a>

Air traffic glitch sparks big flight delays in UK