A technical failure at the NATS air traffic control centre in Prestwick, Scotland, on Monday, 21 September 2026, led to a 60% reduction in flight capacity across Scotland-controlled airspace and a 40% reduction in capacity for some transatlantic departures. This failure severely disrupted flight operations across Scotland and parts of the North Atlantic region.
Flight Cancellations and Manual Flight Processing
The Prestwick air traffic control disruption forced the cancellation of at least 24 flights across affected UK airports on Monday. EasyJet cancelled over 20 flights alone due to the failure. British Airways and KLM flights were also affected. Flight processing at the affected control centre shifted
to manual handling, causing additional operational delays during the ongoing technical problem.
Airports and Affected UK Regions
Edinburgh and Glasgow airports experienced significant disruption as a direct result of the Prestwick centre failure. Flights involving Northern Ireland and northern England were also impacted. Airports located south of Manchester reported no major effects and operated broadly normally during the disruption.
NATS Response and Passenger Advisory
NATS engineers remain on site at the Prestwick air traffic control centre actively investigating the cause of the technical failure. The organisation stressed that this incident is unrelated to a major UK-wide air traffic control outage that occurred earlier in the month. NATS advised passengers flying
through Scotland or northern Britain to confirm their flight status with their airline before travelling, due to ongoing delays and cancellations.
