Due to a technical issue, the airspace over the south of Norway was temporarily closed on Thursday. This resulted in considerable delays at Oslo airport, which is one of the largest in Scandinavia.

The airspace was gradually reopened after a duration of over three hours. However, passengers should expect delays to persist throughout the day, as stated by the airport operator.

Southern Norway Flights Disrupted Over Technical Glitch

Based on a recent update from Flightradar24 on X, there seems to be a technical failure at the Oslo control center, causing disruptions to flights in southern Norway this morning. 

Due to current situation, Oslo Airport is temporarily closed.

Air traffic was fully reopened at 9:30am. Ylva Celius Trusen, a spokesperson for Avinor, the state-owned company that manages nearly fifty airports across Norway, highlighted the challenges during an interview on Norwegian television NRK.

"Due to a lack of coordination between two systems, we were compelled to close the airspace over southern Norway," Trusen explained. However, the spokesperson did not provide specific information about the affected systems.

Flights in the air at the time were redirected to the closest airports, according to ABC News. By 7:30 GMT, the skies over southern Norway appeared to be lacking in aircraft, as reported by the tracking service flightradar24.com.

The closure caused significant delays for numerous flights in and out of southern Norway.  The delays are expected to persist throughout the day, despite the fact that the airspace has been completely reopened.

There was a technical error at the Oslo Control Center, resulting in significant airspace restrictions in southern Norway. Spokeswoman Cathrine Fuglesang Framholt said long-haul flights will be given priority.

"It will be a considerable amount of time before we return to a state of normalcy," Fuglesang Framholt stated.

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Norwegian Airspace

In a recent update, the page stated: "Qatar Airways flight is currently on hold, awaiting the reopening of the Oslo control center."

Following the closure of the airport last month due to ice and snow accumulation, this development has taken place. Airlines such as SAS and Norwegian have issued warnings about potential delays and cancellations, and they are providing affected passengers with options for refunds or rebooking.

Boasting approximately 25 million passengers annually, the Oslo international airport holds the title of Norway's largest and serves as a prominent hub in Scandinavia, alongside the airports in Copenhagen and Stockholm.

Avinor, headquartered in Oslo, operates a total of 43 airports across Norway.

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