More than 2,000 flights were canceled in Britain on Tuesday and Wednesday due to a technical issue, impacting at least 300,000 passengers, with Heathrow being the worst-hit airport.
The affected passengers "are unlikely to be entitled to compensation for delays or cancellations that were directly caused by the incident," said a statement issued by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Wednesday.
Cancellations were slowing Wednesday evening and none is scheduled for Thursday, according to the aviation analytics firm Cirium.
National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said on Tuesday afternoon that it identified a technical issue with its flight processing system, disrupting departures across the country and causing delays and cancellations.
The four-hour air traffic outage on Tuesday "left hundreds of thousands of passengers facing cancellations, diversions, and delays," said Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander on Wednesday.
"I do not believe this issue was unavoidable," she said, ordering an independent investigation by CAA into the system operated by NATS.
Martin Rolfe, chief executive officer of NATS, said a cyberattack was ruled out as the cause of the disruption.
More than 2,000 flights canceled in Britain due to technical issue
Norwegian Ambassador to China Vebjorn Dysvik said Wednesday that the 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) offers a strong platform for developing new partnerships, as a record number of Norwegian companies attend.
Running through Sept. 13 at Shougang Park, a former industrial site and a venue for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the fair has drawn participants from 90 countries, regions and international organizations, with over 1,800 companies exhibiting on-site. Among them are 473 Fortune Global 500 firms and other industry leaders, including Honeywell, Johnson and Johnson, and Siemens.
During the fair, more than 190 forums, conferences, and business negotiation and promotion events will be held, along with 74 supporting activities and 11 business tour itineraries.
Norway is this year's guest country of honor at CIFTIS, and its exhibition area showcases Norway's distinctive industries and innovative achievements.
"It's a great opportunity and we can see this from the number of Norwegian companies that show up. And we have a record number of companies this year because our companies see that this is a good platform to develop all partnerships, but also to create new partnerships," said Vebjorn Dysvik, Norwegian Ambassador to China.
This year, for the first time, the fair has established an exhibition area for Chinese services in the core exhibition zone, showcasing innovative achievements and exemplary cases in the field of trade in services.
In addition, special zones were set up for the first time in several thematic exhibitions to provide professional support for Chinese enterprises looking to expand into international markets.
"The exhibition area for overseas service providers features 28 companies offering services overseas. It covers a wide range of topics, including accounting and auditing, human resources, intellectual property, consulting services, financial services, and digital marketing software services. In addition, we have invited 41 firms to participate in the overseas service recommendation roadshow, providing attendees with a one-stop solution for overseas expansion," said Zhao Fangqi, staff member at the fair.
This year's event also highlights the application of cutting-edge technologies in the service trade sector, while the sports and cultural tourism service exhibition areas feature numerous innovative interactive experiences.
Some exhibitors expressed their hope to meet the new service demands driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) era through more innovative approaches.
Norwegian ambassador hails CIFTIS as partnership platform
