A technical failure in the flight data processing system of National Air Traffic Services (NATS) caused the cancellation of over 2,000 flights on September 9 and 10, 2026, across UK airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Stansted, Luton, London City, and Edinburgh. Approximately 330,000 passengers were affected by the severe disruption in air travel.
Operational Impact and Airline Disruptions
The system outage was first reported at 1:46 p.m. local time on September 9 and was resolved by about 4:40 p.m. that same day. During the failure window, scheduled departures were reduced by 30% on September 9 and 5% on September 10. Ryanair canceled 260 flights,
impacting 48,000 passengers and incurring estimated losses of £3 million. British Airways canceled or diverted 100 flights on September 9 and 190 on September 10, while easyJet canceled around 200 flights over the two days. Air India and Qatar Airways also reported delays, cancellations, and rerouting of flights involving UK routes.
Government and Regulatory Response
Transport Minister Heidi Alexander stated she “does not believe this issue was unavoidable” and mandated the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to conduct an independent investigation with a report due within six months. NATS CEO Martin Rolfe was summoned to provide an initial report within one week. The CAA
classified the disruption as “extraordinary circumstances,” meaning passengers are unlikely to be entitled to compensation for delays or cancellations directly resulting from the failure, though airlines must provide refunds, rebooking options, meals, accommodation, and reasonable expenses.
Context of Previous Failures and NATS Ownership
This incident marks the third major operational failure at NATS in three years, following outages in August 2023 caused by a rogue flight plan and a radar fault in July 2025. NATS operates as a public-private partnership with 49% ownership by the UK government and 42% held by a consortium of airlines including British Airways and easyJet. Despite paying £175 million in dividends to
its owners in 2025, NATS has faced growing scrutiny over its reliability.
Industry and Passenger Impacts
Ryanair called for the resignation of NATS CEO Martin Rolfe after the September failure, with CEO Michael O’Leary describing the outage as a repeat of the 2023 incident. Airlines UK chief Tim Alderslade criticized the regulatory framework for expecting airlines to absorb disruption costs from NATS failures. Liberal Democrat MP Luke Taylor condemned NATS as “not fit for purpose” and urged legislative amendments to prevent recurring outages. Approximately 330,000 passengers encountered cancellations, delays (including some Ryanair passengers facing up to eight-hour waits), and reroutings. Airlines provided refunds, rebooking,
and other support to affected travelers amid continued knock-on disruptions from crew and aircraft repositioning.
NATS apologized “unreservedly” for the disruption and confirmed a full investigation to establish root causes and determine further actions. The CAA’s report on the incident is expected within six months.
