Key facts
- A technical issue with air traffic control services caused widespread flight delays and cancellations across UK airports.
- The disruption affected hundreds of thousands of passengers, with over 1,000 flights cancelled on Tuesday.
- London Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, and Stansted were among the most impacted airports.
- NATS, the UK's air traffic control provider, fixed the system issue on Tuesday afternoon, but recovery is ongoing.
- Ryanair criticized NATS and its CEO, Martin Rolfe, for the failure, referencing past incidents.
Major disruption continued at British airports on Wednesday following an hours-long air traffic control outage that triggered widespread delays and cancellations. The issue, which began Tuesday afternoon, affected departing flights at major hubs including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, and Stansted, and also impacted incoming flights to southern England.
By Tuesday evening, over 1,000 flights had been cancelled, and by Wednesday morning, Flightradar24 reported that at least 177 flights scheduled to or from UK airports had been cancelled, with nearly all of these at London Heathrow. Heathrow and Gatwick airports warned travelers to check with their airlines before traveling as airlines worked to reposition aircraft and crew.
NATS, the UK's air traffic control services provider, stated that the technical issue had been fixed but that the recovery process was taking longer than anticipated. The company apologized for the frustration caused to passengers. This marks the third major air traffic control stoppage in the UK in just over three years.
Ryanair stated that 65,000 of its passengers were disrupted and that the airline had cancelled over 50 flights. Ryanair's chief operating officer, Neal McMahon, called for NATS CEO Martin Rolfe to resign, referencing a previous NATS failure in 2023. Rolfe defended NATS' systems and apologized for the incident.