A technical failure at the NATS air traffic control centre in Prestwick, Scotland, on Monday, 21 September 2026, reduced Scottish-controlled airspace capacity by approximately 60%. This disruption also lowered capacity by around 40% for some transatlantic departures, impacting routes between Britain, Europe, and North America.
As a result, EasyJet canceled over 20 flights today, with at least 24 flights canceled across affected UK airports. British Airways and KLM flights are also among those disrupted. Manual flight processing is in place as engineers work to resolve the issue at the Prestwick centre.
Airports and Routes Affected
Edinburgh and Glasgow airports are experiencing significant disruption due
to the air traffic control failure. Flights involving Northern Ireland and northern England are also affected. However, airports located south of Manchester remain broadly unaffected by the incident.
Official Response and Ongoing Investigation
NATS engineers remain at the Prestwick air traffic control centre investigating the technical failure. The operator confirmed that this incident is unrelated to the major UK air traffic control outage earlier in September 2026. Passengers traveling through Scotland or northern Britain are facing ongoing cancellations and delays today due to the reduced air traffic capacity.
