LONDON — The British government has demanded an investigation after a computer failure Friday at one of Britain’s two air traffic control centers caused a major disruption of air traffic into and out of London.

The congested airspace over the British capital was closed during the 35-minute shutdown, leading to delays and flight cancellations in London and other parts of Europe that officials said would spill into Saturday.

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Passengers wait for flights to take off at Heathrow Airport in London after the city’s airspace was closed for a time on Friday because of a computer failure. The Associated Press

The problem was traced to the computer system at NATS, the troubled U.K.-based air traffic management company, which has experienced a number of operational problems related to computer issues.

British officials seethed over the system meltdown on a busy Friday afternoon during the run-up to the holiday season, when travel demand is high.

“Disruption on this scale is simply unacceptable and I have asked NATS for a full explanation of this evening’s incident,” Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said.

NATS said a computer problem at its center in Swanwick, England, had touched off troubles in the system. After it was fixed, NATS said its operations were returning to normal but would not say how long that would take. It said “further information” about the cause would be released when it becomes available.

Problems were particularly acute at London’s Heathrow Airport, Europe’s busiest. Some 66 flights were cancelled there as of 6 p.m., with more expected, since planes and flight crews were out of position.British aviation authorities did not ask the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to hold flights destined for Heathrow on the ground during the shutdown, so there was no impact on departures from the U.S.

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