More than 1,000 Ryanair flights were cancelled across major UK airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, and Stansted during September 2026 amid repeated failures in the country’s air traffic control systems.
The disruptions stemmed from multiple factors, including significant system outages on 8 September 2026, strikes by Belgian air traffic controllers, and volcanic ash clouds from Mount Etna that complicated operations.
NATS System Failures and Causes
The single largest disruption occurred on 8 September 2026 when National Air Traffic Services (NATS) experienced a system failure that grounded more than 1,300 flights across Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, and Stansted airports.
NATS attributed this outage to a “spurious flight
plan” that caused the central air traffic control system collapse. A similar failure linked to a single French flight plan had previously disrupted flights in August 2023.
Flight tracking data from Cirium and Flightradar24 recorded over 2,000 delays and cancellations across a two-day period surrounding the event.
Official Responses and Industry Impact
Ryanair Chief Operating Officer Neal McMahon publicly criticized NATS leadership, calling CEO Martin Rolfe an “overpaid failure” and demanding his resignation over the air traffic disruptions.
NATS CEO Martin Rolfe responded on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme by apologizing for the outage, emphasizing that safety was never compromised and denying any involvement of
cyberattacks. Rolfe remarked, “Things do go wrong in complex systems.”
UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander convened urgent talks with NATS chairman Sir Warren East to seek assurances that air traffic control infrastructure will be improved to prevent future systemic collapses.
Continued Disruptions and Passenger Impact
Passenger travel was further affected later in September by a connectivity issue at NATS’s Scottish control centre in Prestwick, which triggered another wave of flight cancellations across British airspace.
These air traffic control failures caused widespread cancellation and delay of flights serving some of the UK’s busiest airports, disrupting thousands of travelers.
Despite the operational challenges, Ryanair carried 20.1 million
passengers on more than 111,700 flights during September 2026, marking a 4 percent increase compared to the previous year. Rival airline Wizz Air reported a 24 percent passenger growth to 7.78 million over the same month, although it plans a 5 percent reduction in capacity later in 2026 due to elevated jet fuel costs and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
