A technical failure in the flight data processing system operated by National Air Traffic Services (NATS) at the Swanwick control centre in Hampshire led to nearly 1,000 flight cancellations and delays across multiple UK airports on September 8, 2026.
The disruption affected major airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, London City, Luton, Edinburgh, Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham, and Glasgow. Agencies FlightAware and Cirium reported around 490 delayed departures and 525 arrivals cancelled or delayed across six airports—Heathrow, Gatwick, London City, Luton, Edinburgh, and Bristol—by 15:18 GMT on the same day.
At Heathrow alone, 38 of 661 scheduled arrivals were either cancelled or unable
to operate. British Airways cancelled 16 of its 333 planned departures at Heathrow and faced more than 100 overall flight cancellations or diversions. Ryanair cancelled over 50 flights, with delays impacting more than 65,000 passengers by as much as eight hours. Wizz Air called for urgent reform of the air traffic system, labeling NATS “not fit for purpose in its current form.”
The outage forced Heathrow to stop accepting inbound flights for approximately two hours during the afternoon, causing some arrivals to divert to Brussels, Amsterdam, and Paris airports. Dublin Airport also experienced knock-on disruptions due to its reliance on
UK-controlled airspace, leading to flight cancellations and delays.
NATS Response and Official Reactions
NATS implemented a fix and reported that its flight system was beginning to recover, but acknowledged the recovery took longer than expected. The company stated it continues working closely with airlines and airports to clear the backlog.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has demanded a full incident report from NATS and will evaluate if further measures are needed to ensure system reliability. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander apologized to affected passengers and is seeking assurances that lessons will be learned.
Previous Failures and System Challenges
This incident marks the third major UK air traffic control system failure in
three years. In August 2023, a fault in the flight plan processing system at Swanwick resulted in over 1,600 cancelled flights and impacted more than 700,000 passengers, costing the aviation industry about £100 million. In July 2025, a radar issue at the same control centre caused flights to be disrupted for over four hours.
Traveller Impact and Industry Criticism
The incident caused widespread passenger disruption across the UK and Europe. At Berlin Brandenburg Airport, a British Airways flight to London City faced repeated delays and eventual cancellation, leaving passengers to find accommodations without airline support. Arsenal Football Club had its travel to Naples for a
Champions League match delayed by the outage.
Ryanair’s Chief Operating Officer Neal McMahon criticized NATS CEO Martin Rolfe, demanding his resignation over repeated failures affecting passengers. Ryanair stated, “How many more failures do passengers have to suffer before overpaid failure NATS CEO, Martin Rolfe, accepts responsibility for his repeated mismanagement and resigns?” Wizz Air demanded urgent reform, declaring that a critical national infrastructure provider should not repeatedly incapacitate the aviation system.
NATS stressed safety was never compromised during the failure and confirmed that operations have returned to normal with ongoing efforts to clear flight backlogs.
