Gatwick and Heathrow Airport flights grounded as Arsenal fans face travel chaos
Arsenal fans are facing travel disruption
Arsenal fans are facing a travel nightmare for their Champions League trip to Napoli with flights grounded. The Gunners take on the Italian side at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples on Wednesday.
But some supporters could see travel disrupted following a technical problem which has affected air traffic control systems across several UK airports, including London Heathrow, London Stansted and London Gatwick.
Passengers have reported being left waiting on runways as disruption builds across major UK airports. Those travelling from Gatwick are advised to check in as normal and contact their airline before setting off.
Heathrow, meanwhile, has said the issue is not limited to airports in London, with Flightradar24 showing that 10 UK airports are having disruption. Manchester, Birmingham, East Midlands are among others facing delays.
National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said at 1.46pm that it was investigating a technical issue causing disruption to flight departures, with engineers on site working to resolve the problem. NATS apologised for the delays and urged passengers to check the status of their flight with their airline, with further updates expected.
(Image: Bloomberg, Bloomberg via Getty Images)
This is not ideal for Arsenal fans making the trip across Europe to Naples ahead of Wednesday's 8pm (BST) kick-off. Three flights from London airports are scheduled for tonight, with one from Luton (16:50), one from Gatwick (16:20) and the other from Heathrow (16:15). At this stage, it's unclear if those will take off on time.
The Arsenal squad trained at London Colney on Tuesday morning before travelling to Naples in the afternoon ahead of Mikel Arteta's pre-match press conference at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona tonight.
Arteta is looking to guide the Gunners to a fourth successive win to start the season after picking up nine points from a possible nine in the Premier League, beating Coventry City, Aston Villa and Chelsea.
The Gunners now begin their Champions League campaign at Napoli, a competition in which they reached the final of in May. But they were beaten on penalties against Paris Saint-Germain.
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