'Technical Problem' Disrupts Flights At Heathrow Airport

Flights were disrupted at Heathrow Airport in London, England Friday after a computer glitch at the airport's air traffic control center.

The airport had to temporarily ground all flights while it said it was fixing a "technical problem" in the Swanwick Control Center. Despite the rather short duration of the computer glitch, the temporary grounding of flights has forced over 50 aircrafts to either be delayed or canceled.

"A computer failure is affecting London airspace with potentially severe #flightdelay," EuroControl, the The European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, tweeted on Friday morning.

The Associated Press later clarified via Twitter that the problem had been solved, writing: "British air traffic control: Computer glitch causing air delays over London has been resolved."

The U.K. government reportedly issued a statement saying the technical problem was "unacceptable," adding that it was awaiting a "full explanation" regarding the issue.

"We are in the process of getting the incident response mobilised. We don't know what the cause is, but there is a technical failure," a spokeswoman for NATS, a global air traffic control group, said in a statement to The Guardian.

"We're sorry if it causes any delays today. Our priority is to understand what has gone wrong and to get things working as quickly as possible," the spokeswoman added.

"Every possible action is being taken to assist in resolving the situation and to confirm the details," a statement on the NATS official website added. "Further information will be released as it becomes available."