On 21 September 2026, a technical fault at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) Prestwick control centre in Scotland caused the cancellation of over 220 flights across the UK. The disruption affected air traffic management over Scotland, Northern Ireland, and northern England.
Flight Cancellations and Airports Affected
By late afternoon on 21 September, a total of 227 flights had been cancelled due to the fault, with more than 200 cancellations reported earlier in the day. Key airports impacted included Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast, Heathrow, Gatwick, Liverpool, and Birmingham. Ryanair reported that more than 25,000 passengers experienced disruption, cancelling over 50 flights themselves. British Airways, easyJet, and
Jet2 also experienced cancellations and delays, compounding operational challenges.
Context on the Previous 8 September 2026 System Failure
This incident marks the second major NATS air traffic control failure within two weeks. The first, occurring on 8 September 2026, resulted in nearly 2,100 flight cancellations across UK airports, with approximately 1,750 on the initial day. British Airways alone cancelled around 550 flights, affecting more than 85,000 customers. The 8 September outage was traced to a software defect in code allocation to individual aircraft. This earlier disruption caused widespread travel impacts including Arsenal football team’s Champions League travel to Naples, Italy.
Airline Responses to the Latest Disruption
Following the 21 September failure, British Airways, easyJet, Jet2,
and Ryanair expressed significant concerns about the resilience of the UK’s air traffic control systems. Ryanair COO Neal McMahon called for the resignation of NATS CEO Martin Rolfe, stating, “Enough is enough, it’s time for the UK government to intervene…and put somebody in charge who can do the job.” easyJet questioned the nationwide infrastructure’s reliability. NATS affirmed the 21 September fault was unrelated to the 8 September software issue.
Passenger and Travel Industry Impact
More than 25,000 Ryanair passengers and tens of thousands from other airlines faced cancellations and delays on 21 September. The disruptions affected flight schedules, crew availability, and airport slot management. These
caused knock-on effects to multi-sector itineraries including hotel reservations, transfers, cruises, tours, and onward connections. Travel management companies reported having to rebuild complex customer journeys as a result.
Official Statements and Regulatory Review
The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) stated the 21 September disruption likely constitutes extraordinary circumstances, exempting airlines from mandatory passenger compensation while obliging them to provide care and rerouting. Following the first failure in September, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander commissioned an independent CAA review into air traffic control. She publicly called on X (Twitter) for comprehensive lessons to be learned and improvements to be made to aviation system resilience and operational reliability.
