Flights resume at Edinburgh airport after IT outage causes flight DL208 to divert to Dublin

Edinburgh Airport resumed flights after an IT issue halted all incoming and outgoing services for about one hour on Friday morning. Delta flight DL208 diverted to Dublin airport resumed its journey at 11.25.

The suspension began at 08:30 when Air Navigation Solutions, the airport’s air traffic control provider, encountered a technical fault. Officials resolved the problem by 09:30, and planes returned to normal schedules, though some departures and arrivals faced delays of up to two hours. Passengers on easyJet and Ryanair flights reported the greatest impacts, with routes to Gatwick, Prague, Lanzarote, Krakow, Malaga and Belfast among those affected.

The airport handles 15.8m passengers each year and connects to 155 destinations via 37 airlines. A spokesman confirmed the outage remained localised and bore no relation to the Cloudflare disruption that impacted websites worldwide on the same day. The London National Air Traffic Services, which oversees most Scottish airspace, offered support to airlines during the incident but played no direct role. The airport posted updates on social media and urged travellers to contact carriers for details on bookings.

One passenger from Swindon missed her child’s nativity play due to the delays. She travelled to Edinburgh for a work meeting and faced rerouting that extended her journey home. Edinburgh Trams adjusted services to accommodate stranded passengers at the airport terminal. Officials expect the backlog to clear by midday, with no further suspensions reported as of 11:00.

The incident follows a pattern of technical glitches aviation under England’s Civil Aviation Authority, though this event affected fewer flights than previous nationwide disruptions. Edinburgh Airport operates one runway and one terminal, which limits recovery time after halts. Airlines rebooked affected passengers on later flights or provided vouchers for refreshments, in line with Civil Aviation Authority guidelines. No injuries or safety breaches occurred during the outage.

As of today, the airport reports normal operations, with flight trackers showing 80pc on-time departures. Travellers receive notifications through airline apps, and ground staff assist with recheck-ins for delayed bags. The airport plans a review of the air traffic systems to prevent recurrence.