More flights cancelled due to air traffic control glitch at Nats

More flights cancelled due to air traffic control glitch at Nats

Nats, the UK's air traffic control provider, has admitted to a technical problem affecting departures from multiple airports.

Air traffic control provider Nats has blamed a technical glitch for cancelling nearly 2,000 flights on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told the BBC that the situation was 'frankly unacceptable' and Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has summoned Rolfe to a meeting to explain what happened.

A cyber attack was 'categorically' not the cause of the fault, according to Nats.

Heathrow has said passengers should only travel to the airport if they have a confirmed flight operating.

With few aircraft able to take off, it is understood landings were restricted, leading to some flights being unable to depart overseas airports.

The fault was widespread across the UK and beyond, with airports in Ireland also reporting disruption. EasyJet made 200 cancellations and British Airways more than 100.

It is not the first time disruption has blighted Nats' control system. In 2023, a computer shutdown over the August bank holiday weekend caused chaos for 700,000 passengers.

It took an engineer, who had been unable to correct the fault from home, three hours to get to work.

There was another, smaller Nats outage in 2025, which caused 150 cancellations.

Ryanair and Wizz Air have called for an overhaul of Nats, with Wizz Air saying it was 'not fit for purpose' in its current form.

Yvonne Moynihan, managing director of Wizz Air UK, reiterated her calls for Rolfe to consider his position.