More than 120 flights were cancelled on Wednesday across several UK airports due to a technical glitch in the country’s air traffic control system, sparking strong criticism from airline executives during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
The issue occurred within NATS (National Air Traffic Services), which temporarily restricted the number of aircraft permitted in London’s airspace. Although the fault was resolved swiftly, it had already caused significant disruption.
Impacted Flights (as of 7:30 PM BST / 1830 GMT)
| Flight Type | Number Cancelled |
| Departures | 67 |
| Arrivals | 55 |
Several flights were also diverted, according to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics firm.
Affected Airports
- Heathrow (Europe’s busiest airport)
- Gatwick
- Edinburgh
The technical fault originated at the Swanwick control centre in southwest England. NATS first reported the issue at approximately 4:00 PM BST (1500 GMT), and by around 5:00 PM, systems were declared fully operational with departures resuming.
Airline Industry Backlash
Airline executives expressed deep frustration over yet another air traffic control failure, reminiscent of the August 2023 outage that caused the worst disruption in nearly a decade.
Reactions from Airline Executives
| Executive | Airline | Remarks |
| Neal McMahon | Ryanair | Called the situation “outrageous” and demanded the resignation of NATS CEO Martin Rolfe. |
| David Morgan | EasyJet | Described the failure as “extremely disappointing”, especially during peak travel season. |
“It is clear that no lessons have been learnt since the August 2023 NATS system outage.”
— Neal McMahon, Ryanair COO
“While our priority today is supporting our customers, we will want to understand what steps NATS is taking to prevent recurrence.”
— David Morgan, EasyJet COO
Government Response
A spokesperson from the Department for Transport (DfT) stated that the government is “working closely” with NATS to:
- Understand the cause of the failure
- Assess the resilience of existing systems
- Prevent similar issues in future
The incident highlights the fragility of the UK’s air traffic infrastructure during high-pressure travel periods and has once again raised questions over system redundancy and crisis preparedness at NATS.
Despite the swift restoration of service, the disruption is expected to cause residual delays and cancellations throughout the night and into Thursday morning.
