Shannon Air Traffic Control, which controls all jet flight movement over Irish airspace, re ported a significant increase in movements following the failure of an air traffic controller computer near Heathrow Airport on Saturday. A spokesman said all London airspace movement, which stretches eastwards about halfway across the Irish Sea and south over the Atlantic, was affected by the four-hour breakdown, placing restrictions on over-flying and landing aircraft.
Eleven direct flights by Aer Lingus, Ryanair, Virgin Airlines and City Flyer to Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted on Saturday were all affected by the computer failure, with cancellations and delays of up to four hours.
An Aer Rianta spokeswoman said delays had continued yesterday but on Saturday, Aer Lingus, Ryanair and Jersey European had to cancel some flights to Britain. Aer Lingus also had to cancel its Dusseldorf flight.
An Aer Lingus spokesman said transatlantic flights were unaffected but the scheduled 8.55 a.m. flight to London yesterday was delayed by three hours. "The afternoon and evening flights are back down to an hour delay."