LONDON — Flights departing from Heathrow, Gatwick and several other major British airports were grounded Tuesday afternoon after a technical failure struck the United Kingdom's air traffic control provider, National Air Traffic Services, causing widespread disruption across the country's aviation network.

NATS confirmed the technical problem originated at its Swanwick air traffic control center on England's south coast, with departures at Heathrow halted entirely from approximately 12:48 p.m. local time.

"We have a technical problem at NATS Swanwick air traffic control centre which is causing some disruption to flight departures," a NATS spokesperson said. "Our engineers are on site and we will provide an update as soon as we can."

Heathrow, the United Kingdom's busiest airport, confirmed the disruption in its own statement, emphasizing that engineers were actively working to resolve the issue.

"We are investigating a technical issue which is causing some disruption to flight departures," Heathrow said in a statement, adding that it was "supporting our local NATS team in their efforts to resolve the issue as quickly as possible." The airport said arriving flights were not currently affected by the disruption, though it advised passengers to check their specific flight times given the broader disruption unfolding across the network.

Gatwick Airport confirmed it was similarly affected, issuing its own statement acknowledging the scope of the problem.

"We are aware of a NATS technical issue that is currently affecting a number of UK airports, including London Gatwick," Gatwick said,........

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