More than 1,750 flights were cancelled across the United Kingdom on September 8 and 9, 2026, following a technical failure in National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the UK air traffic control operator. The disruption began Tuesday and extended into Wednesday, causing widespread delays at major airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Luton, and Edinburgh.
Flight cancellations impact major UK airports and airlines
The system failure affected at least 15 airports nationwide. Approximately 600 cancellations occurred at Heathrow and Gatwick combined. British Airways cancelled 81 flights, the highest among airlines, while easyJet cancelled 24 flights. Ryanair reported cancelling more than 50 flights, affecting over 65,000 passengers. Wizz Air was
also impacted by the disruption. Airlines are handling rebooking and repositioning aircraft left at the wrong airports.
Airlines and airports respond to backlog and cancellations
Heathrow Airport apologized for the disruption, urged passengers to check flight status and “only travel if your flight is confirmed to be operating.” The airport deployed extra colleagues across terminals to support passengers while working with NATS and airline partners to restore normal operations as quickly as possible. EasyJet stated some flights were “unable to operate” due to the system failure.
NATS leadership and government demand accountability
Martin Rolfe, head of NATS, apologized for the disruption, emphasizing safety as the priority in suspending operations. He said, “Our job is
also to make sure that people stay safe” and described the decision to suspend operations as not taken lightly but necessary until systems could be restored. Ryanair chief operating officer Neal McMahon publicly criticized NATS leadership, calling for Rolfe’s resignation citing repeated mismanagement.
UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander summoned Martin Rolfe for a meeting on September 9, 2026, demanding assurances that lessons will be learned and systems supporting aviation are reliable. She said, “I am seeking assurances that lessons will be learned and systems that support aviation are up to the job.”
Context of second major UK air traffic outage in three years
This incident marks the second major outage of
the UK air traffic control system in three years. The failure involved “an issue in our flight processing system” at NATS, which has since been resolved after causing cascading delays and cancellations. Thousands of passengers were stranded for hours on runways and in terminals across the UK due to the outage.
