U.K. Airspace Restricted, Flights Grounded After Computer Glitch

Flights in the U.K. are being restricted Friday after an air-traffic computer failed, causing canceled departures out of Heathrow and Gatwick airports. A technical problem at the Swanwick air-traffic control center is causing the disruption, air-traffic control management company NATS said in a statement posted online. "We're restricting traffic volumes in accordance with the capability we currently have in our system," NATS said in a post on Twitter. All London airspace is closed, except to planes already aloft, air-traffic monitor Eurocontrol said in a post online. However, NATS said that U.K. airspace has not been closed. Heathrow and Gatwick both said there has been an impact on departures, though not as much on arrivals. The remaining major airports in London -- Luton, Stansted and City Airport -- are expected to also be hit, and the problems are expected to have a knock-on effect on airports across the U.K. and in Europe.