Overview
- NATS’ flight‑processing system failed on Tuesday, producing widespread departure disruption that led trackers to report from several hundred up to more than 1,000 cancelled or delayed flights and tens of thousands of passengers affected.
- NATS said engineers implemented a fix by early evening and that systems are recovering, but airlines and airports warned the backlog of out‑of‑position aircraft and crews will keep cancellations and delays into Wednesday.
- Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham were among the worst hit as arrivals were suspended at times and major carriers including British Airways, EasyJet and Ryanair reported large numbers of cancellations and passenger disruption, with Ryanair saying over 65,000 customers were affected.
- Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has sought assurances and a formal incident report, NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe apologised and promised a full investigation, and some airlines publicly demanded leadership accountability.
- The outage revives scrutiny of the resilience of UK air traffic control after high‑profile NATS failures in 2023 and a radar problem last July, and the regulator has said it expects a detailed account of what went wrong.