UK: International travel disruptions reported at airports nationwide amid passport processing system failure May 7

As of late May 7, a technical issue with the Border Force passport processing system is prompting disruptions at airports across the UK. Disruptions have been reported at London Heathrow Airport (LHR), Gatwick (LGW), Stansted (STN), and several other airports nationwide, impacting thousands of passengers. Airport officials are working on contingency measures to mitigate passenger impact; however, authorities have given no estimate as to when the outage may be resolved.

Border processing delays will almost certainly continue into early May 8. Authorities may cancel or delay scheduled flights or international maritime arrivals due to the system outage. It remains unclear if the outage is having any impact on Eurostar rail services.