A technical issue at Nats, Britain’s air traffic control services provider, triggered widespread flight disruptions on Tuesday, marking the country’s third major aviation stoppage in just over three years. The system failure began around midday and persisted for approximately four hours before being resolved. During this period, more than 1,000 flights were cancelled by evening, with at least 177 additional cancellations expected for Wednesday, according to flight tracking data.
The disruption affected departures and arrivals at numerous major UK airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted, and facilities across southern England. Airlines reported significant passenger impacts, with Ryanair noting over 65,000 delayed passengers and 50 cancelled flights. British Airways cancelled or diverted more than 100 flights, while the knock-on effects extended to European airspace, requiring some inbound flights to be held at airports abroad. Heathrow suspended arrivals for the remainder of Tuesday evening as the system recovered.
Nats stated the fault differed from previous outages that occurred in 2023 and 2025, and emphasized that such incidents remain relatively uncommon. The company’s chief executive, Martin Rolfe, expressed sympathy for affected travelers and acknowledged responsibility for the disruption, while airlines and the government signaled concerns about the provider’s operational reliability. Several carriers, including Ryanair and Wizz Air, renewed calls for significant changes at Nats, including leadership replacement, arguing the organization requires fundamental overhaul to prevent future incidents.
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