The outage forced the suspension of all departures and arrivals, leaving multiple aircraft stranded on the tarmac, while no planes were reported in the surrounding airspace. The airport confirmed that the disruption originated from an “IT issue” affecting its air-traffic-control service provider, though the precise cause and severity remain unclear.

Some departing flights were held on the tarmac for nearly two hours, while incoming flights were rerouted to minimize congestion. Passengers were advised to contact their airlines directly for updates while engineers worked to resolve the issue.

Edinburgh Airport, Scotland’s busiest, handles approximately 15 million passengers annually—around 43,000 per day—with connections to 155 destinations. Airlines including EasyJet and Ryanair reported significant cancellations and delays during the outage.

This is not the first time Edinburgh Airport has faced IT-related disruptions. In July last year, operations were halted due to a global IT outage linked to CrowdStrike, highlighting the vulnerabilities of modern air-traffic management systems.

The disruption comes at a busy period ahead of the holiday season, intensifying the impact on both passengers and airline operations. Airport officials have not confirmed alternative arrangements for affected travelers, and the timeline for full restoration of services remains uncertain.

Airlines globally continue to grapple with delays caused by IT failures and air-traffic-control issues, raising questions about the resilience of aviation infrastructure to technical glitches. Edinburgh Airport’s management has assured that teams are actively addressing the problem to restore normal operations as quickly as possible.

Passengers are urged to check with their carriers before traveling and to allow extra time for journeys to and from the airport as recovery efforts continue.