UK air traffic control glitch grounds over 1,000 flights
A technical failure at the National Air Traffic Services network halted departures across Britain's busiest airports, forcing widespread flight cancellations.
On Tuesday, 8 September 2026, a technical failure at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) network halted departures across Britain’s busiest airports, forcing the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights and leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
The glitch began around 1 pm when NATS identified a fault in the software that sequences aircraft for take‑off. By 4 pm a fix was applied, but the damage had already cascaded through the network, causing flights to be grounded, delayed or diverted.
Media additions
Flightradar24 data, cited by several outlets, recorded more than 1,000 cancellations at UK airports by the evening. The numbers varied slightly across reports: Maalaimalar listed 625 flights; The Guardian and The Independent both described “more than 1,000” cancellations; CBC and Metro echoed the 625‑flight figure; TravelPirates reported 2,400+ European flights disrupted, indicating the wider impact on the continent.
| Source | UK Flights Cancelled |
|---|---|
| Maalaimalar | 625 flights |
| The Guardian | more than 1,000 flights |
| The Independent | more than 1,000 flights |
| CBC | 625 flights |
| Metro | more than 1,000 flights |
| TravelPirates | 2,400+ European flights |
Airlines’ reactions were swift. The Guardian noted that Ryanair’s chief operating officer, Neal McMahon, demanded the resignation of NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe, citing repeated failures. Wizz Air echoed the sentiment, describing NATS as “not fit for purpose” in its current form. British Airways announced it had cancelled or diverted more than 100 of its flights, describing the situation as “entirely out of our control.”
Passengers endured prolonged waits. One account from The Independent described a flight that sat on a runway for five hours before cancellation, while another passenger, quoted in the same piece, complained of being stranded on a plane for four hours. A separate story from Metro highlighted a traveller who had to leave the aircraft after several hours of waiting, with no clear communication from airline staff.
In the immediate aftermath, NATS issued a statement acknowledging the fault and the need for recovery. The company said it had identified the problem in its flight‑processing system and had applied a fix almost four hours after the first signs of disruption appeared. It added that “recovery will take some time” and urged passengers to check with airlines for the latest information.
Despite the scale of the outage, NATS did not admit the fault was the same as previous outages in 2023 and 2025, noting that its systems were “fit for purpose.” The chief executive, Martin Rolfe, stated he was “focusing on solving the problem” and that “the team is in the right place, we have the right resources.”
Airports also issued statements. Heathrow announced that arrivals would be suspended for the remainder of Tuesday, while departures had resumed with ongoing disruption. Gatwick and other airports such as Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol warned that further delays could continue into Wednesday. Bristol specifically advised passengers to check with airlines, noting that flights were “arriving and departing” but that disruption “is likely to continue into Wednesday 9 September.”
Looking ahead, the incident adds to a series of NATS disruptions over the past three years, including a major outage in August 2023 that grounded 700,000 passengers. The pattern has prompted airlines to call for a comprehensive overhaul of the national air‑traffic control provider, with several urging the resignation of its chief executive.
For passengers, the immediate next steps remain to check with airlines for rebooking options. Airlines have offered free rebooking until Friday, and some have advised travelers to avoid airports until the following day. Heathrow’s notice to travelers highlighted the need to “check with your airline for the latest flight information before travelling to the airport.”
