More than 2,000 flights were cancelled across UK airports on September 10 and 11, 2026, following a major air traffic control failure at National Air Traffic Services (NATS). The disruption affected multiple major airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, and Manchester.
British Airways Flight Disruptions and Recovery Efforts
British Airways cancelled nearly 550 flights as part of the NATS-related disruption, impacting over 85,000 customers. The airline has rebooked more than 60,000 passengers onto alternative flights since the outage began. Despite ongoing recovery efforts, British Airways operated almost 80% of its planned schedule on September 9, 2026, the day after the outage, but still cancelled over 190 flights to manage
residual disruption.
Government and Regulatory Response
The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) labeled the disruption caused by the NATS failure as “extraordinary circumstances” under passenger rights rules, restricting passenger compensation eligibility. Weeks before the outage, the UK government rejected a parliamentary amendment that would have required NATS to reimburse airlines for compensation paid to passengers following airspace disruptions.
Liberal Democrat MP Luke Taylor criticized the government and NATS, stating that after three major failures in three years, including the outage on September 10, NATS “is quite clearly not fit for purpose” and called for amendments to prevent recurring failures. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander ordered
the CAA to conduct an independent review into the latest failure, with a report expected within six months.
Official Statements and NATS Apology
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she “does not believe this issue was unavoidable.” NATS issued a statement confirming that operations were stable and apologized to passengers, airlines, and airports affected by the system issue. They pledged a full investigation to establish the cause and determine further corrective action. The CAA requested an initial report from NATS within a week of the failure.
Ryanair and Wizz Air Responses to NATS Failure
Ryanair reported disruption to more than 65,000 passengers and cancelled over 50 scheduled flights due to the NATS failure. The
airline called for the resignation of NATS CEO Martin Rolfe following the latest air traffic control outage. Wizz Air expressed strong disappointment about the recurrent NATS failures, noting that passengers once again faced cancellations and delays beyond airline control. Both airlines highlighted the disruption’s broad impact across UK airspace.
Background on Previous Failures and NATS Structure
This marks the third major failure of the NATS airspace management system in three years, with the first significant outage occurring in August 2023. NATS operates as a public-private partnership, with 49% government ownership and 42% held by an airline consortium. Despite earlier assurances that measures had been taken to prevent
recurrence, recent failures suggest ongoing systemic issues within the UK’s critical air traffic control infrastructure.
