Authorities Say Issue Was Handled Quickly

A "technical issue" with the air traffic control center in Swanwick in the U.K. snarled air traffic for a time Friday, though officials said that the issue was quickly resolved.

"Following a technical failure at Swanwick, the system has been restored," British air traffic control provider NATS said in a statement just before noon ET (about 1700 London time). "However, it will take time for operations across the UK to fully recover so passengers should contact their airline for the status of their flight."

USA Today reports that according to NATS, the airspace over Britain was never "closed," but that traffic volumes were restricted  "in accordance with capability we currently have in our system following the outage."

Most departures were halted, though a few inbound flights were allowed to land. Others were diverted to other airports while the issue was sorted out.

Airlines were warning passengers to check their flights before heading to the airport.

NATS said that the cause of the outage was not yet determined, but that it was not due to a power outage as had been reported.

FMI: www.nats.aero