A technical failure at National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the UK’s air traffic control provider, led to the cancellation of nearly 550 British Airways flights across multiple UK airports on Thursday, 10 September 2026.
More than 85,000 customers were affected by the flight cancellations. British Airways has rebooked over 60,000 of those passengers on alternative flights since the outage began on Tuesday, 8 September. The disruption extended into Wednesday, 9 September, when the airline cancelled more than 190 flights from its planned schedule due to aircraft and crew being out of position.
At 09:00 BST on 10 September, British Airways
issued a statement confirming that it expects to operate a normal schedule on Thursday. The airline is offering customers scheduled to travel on Thursday who no longer wish to fly the option of free flight changes until Sunday, 13 September. Changes can be made via the Manage My Booking section on the British Airways website.
British Airways noted the incident demonstrated the extensive impact a technical failure in one section of the aviation system can have on airlines and passengers. The airline also thanked staff who worked beyond their regular shifts or volunteered to assist affected customers during the disruption
caused by the NATS outage.
