More than 1,000 flights were cancelled across Britain after a UK air traffic control failure disrupted operations at major airports including Heathrow and Gatwick. The NATS outage affected British Airways, easyJet, Air India and several European carriers before engineers restored the flight processing system.
NATS Outage Triggers UK Flight Cancellations
National Air Traffic Services said the disruption originated in its flight processing system. Engineers worked to identify and repair the technical problem while British airspace remained open.
The system failure nevertheless forced restrictions on aircraft movements, creating widespread UK flight cancellations, diversions and delays. Flight-tracking data showed disruption spreading across airports as carriers adjusted schedules and repositioned aircraft.
NATS later announced that it had implemented a fix and that its flight processing system was recovering. Although the technical problem was resolved, the organisation warned that restoring normal operations would take time because of the backlog.
Heathrow Delays and Gatwick Delays Mount
Heathrow Airport was among the major hubs affected. FlightAware data showed around 100 cancelled flights and hundreds of delayed services at the airport.
Gatwick also recorded significant disruption, with approximately 250 flights delayed. Edinburgh, Birmingham, Luton, Aberdeen and Glasgow reported operational problems, while Dublin Airport warned that services connecting Ireland with Britain could also be affected.
Flightradar24 reported restrictions on arrivals and departures across the London flight information region during the NATS outage.
British Airways, EasyJet and Air India Flights Affected
British Airways said its operations were being disrupted by the air traffic control problem and that teams were assisting affected passengers. The airline accounted for dozens of cancellations as schedules were adjusted.
EasyJet also reported disruption extending across parts of Europe. KLM, Lufthansa and Swiss were among other carriers affected.
Air India warned passengers that several UK services had been delayed, diverted or cancelled. The airline said further flights could face disruption because aircraft and crew members had been left out of position following the outage.
NATS Fix Leaves Airlines Clearing Backlog
NATS confirmed that its flight system had started recovering after engineers implemented a technical fix. However, passengers continued to experience flight delays and cancellations as airports and airlines worked through the backlog.
The incident has again drawn attention to the resilience of Britain's aviation infrastructure. Previous technical failures have also caused widespread disruption, prompting regulators to call for stronger contingency arrangements.
Passengers travelling through affected UK airports were advised to check directly with their airlines for the latest flight status as schedules gradually returned to normal.
