Cyberattack not cause of air traffic issues that snarled flights: UK

The British government said Tuesday that a breakdown at the nationwide air traffic control system that saw hundreds of flights delayed and cancelled was not caused by a cyberattack.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the problem was caused by a technical fault at flight control operator National Air Traffic Services. The company said the outage had hit its ability to process flight plans automatically, meaning that for several hours the plans had to be input manually, a much slower process that meant fewer flights could take off and land.