Air traffic control problems causing delays at London Heathrow and Gatwick

Flights are being delayed at Britain's two busiest airports, London's Heathrow and Gatwick, following technical problems at the main air traffic control centre for southern England, air traffic authorities said on Friday.

"We have a technical problem with a system at the Swanwick Air Traffic Control which is causing some flight restrictions. We are doing all we can to fix it as soon as possible," Britain's NATS air traffic control service said.

Eurocontrol, NATS' pan-European equivalent, said the outage was causing a high level of delays at Heathrow and Gatwick, though they appeared to be easing.