British Airways cancelled close to 550 flights on Thursday, 10 September 2026, due to a National Air Traffic Services (NATS) air traffic control outage in the UK that began on Tuesday, 8 September 2026. More than 85,000 British Airways customers were affected by the disruption across the airline’s network.
On Wednesday, 9 September 2026, British Airways operated nearly 80% of its planned schedule despite the ongoing impact. However, the airline still cancelled over 190 flights that day because aircraft and crew were not in their expected positions. Since the outage started on Tuesday, British Airways has rebooked over 60,000 customers
onto alternative flights. Customers scheduled to travel on Thursday who decide not to fly can change their bookings without fees until Sunday, 13 September 2026, via the airline’s Manage My Booking service online.
The NATS technical failure caused wide-reaching disruption that cascaded through British Airways’ operations. The outage left aircraft and crew out of position, forcing cancellations and a revised timetable. British Airways issued a statement at 09:00 on Thursday, confirming efforts were underway to resume normal operations following the outage. The airline acknowledged the complexity of restoring schedule integrity after a failure within the UK’s air traffic control system.
Passengers affected by cancellations on 10 September can modify their flights free of charge until 13 September 2026. British Airways also expressed gratitude to its staff who extended their working hours or volunteered support to customers during this disruption, as efforts continue to resolve residual impacts.
