Global Air Travel Disrupted as Hundreds of Flights Halted in India, UK

Global aviation faced fresh turmoil on Saturday as major airports in the United Kingdom and India were forced to suspend or cancel hundreds of flights due to technical failures and operational strain across airline networks.

Edinburgh Airport announced that all inbound and outbound flights have been suspended following a technical malfunction affecting systems operated by its air-traffic control service provider. In a statement on X, the airport said teams were “working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”

According to flight-tracking service Flightradar24, citing Eurocontrol data, the suspension of incoming flights is expected to remain in effect until at least 2 p.m. local time.

The UK suspension adds pressure to an already strained global aviation system. On Friday, India’s largest carrier, IndiGo, canceled more than 400 flights, citing a combination of operational challenges including pilot shortages, winter-schedule adjustments, technical malfunctions, and adverse weather conditions.

The mass cancellations have rippled across India’s aviation sector, deepening delays and straining remaining capacity amid one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

The disruptions follow last weekend’s scramble by airlines worldwide to keep fleets operational after a critical software glitch forced an emergency update on one of Airbus’s most widely used aircraft models. The incident created bottlenecks across multiple carriers as maintenance teams worked around the clock to ensure their planes met updated requirements.

With technical faults, staff shortages, and severe weather all converging, airlines and airports across continents are now facing another round of global operational instability, highlighting the fragility of an industry still recovering from pandemic-era shocks.