A technical issue in the flight processing system at Nats, the UK’s air traffic control services provider, triggered widespread disruption on Tuesday afternoon, grounding departing flights at major British airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, and Stansted. The fault emerged at approximately 1pm and persisted for nearly four hours before being resolved, though the underlying system failure originated much earlier in the day.
The incident resulted in the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights by the evening and at least 177 additional cancellations scheduled for Wednesday, predominantly at London Heathrow according to Flightradar24 data. The disruption extended beyond departing flights to affect arrivals throughout southern England, with knock-on consequences spreading across European airspace. Airlines including Ryanair reported over 65,000 passenger delays and 50 cancelled flights, while British Airways canceled or diverted more than 100 flights, leaving aircraft and crews stranded at unintended locations. The repercussions extended to airports across the UK and Europe, requiring some inbound flights to be held at foreign airports.
Nats acknowledged the breakdown represented the third significant stoppage within just over three years and stated that recovery would require considerable time due to the accumulated backlog. The chief executive, Martin Rolfe, took responsibility for the incident while characterizing such events as relatively uncommon. He expressed sympathy to affected passengers and confirmed ongoing coordination with airlines and airports throughout the night to restore normal operations as expeditiously as possible.
The incident reignited calls from airlines for systemic reforms at Nats, with Ryanair renewing demands for leadership changes and other carriers characterizing the provider as unfit for its critical infrastructure role. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announced plans to discuss the breakdown with Rolfe on Wednesday before addressing parliament regarding the civil aviation bill, signaling heightened political scrutiny of air traffic control reliability.
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