Thousands of passengers face a second day of travel chaos across UK airports after a software failure in the national air traffic control system grounded more than 1,000 flights on Tuesday and triggered widespread cancellations and delays into Wednesday.
UK airports warn of further travel disruption after a software failure in the national air traffic control system
A technical fault in National Air Traffic Services’ (NATS) flight data processing system began around early afternoon on Tuesday, preventing many flights from landing and taking off at the UK’s busiest hubs.
Controllers reverted to manual procedures while engineers worked on a fix, sharply reducing capacity and forcing diversions. NATS said the issue was resolved late on Tuesday and that the system was operating normally, but warned recovery would take time as backlogs were cleared.
Around 1,300 flights were cancelled on Tuesday across UK airports
Flight tracking data shows around 1,300 flights were cancelled on Tuesday across UK airports, with tens of thousands of passengers stranded.
By Wednesday morning, a further 177 flights had already been axed, almost all at Heathrow, as airlines struggled to reposition aircraft and crew.
Heathrow reported 246 cancellations by 6am on Wednesday, while Gatwick faced 33, and disruption also hit Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Stansted and other airports.
AGS Airports, which runs Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton, said: “Following yesterday’s technical issue affecting Nats air traffic control, our airports’ operations are recovering.
“Flights continued to operate yesterday and today, but we are expecting ongoing disruption as aircraft and crew reposition.
“We advise passengers to check with their airline for the latest flight information and to only travel if they have a confirmed flight operating today.
“We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this Nats-related technical issue and will continue to provide support to our passengers.”
Further list of cancellations at Glasgow airport
Glasgow Airport cancellations include
0705 EZY401 Easyjet to Luton
0710 BA1499 British Airways to Heathrow
0755 BA1481 British Airways to Gatwick
0940 BA1476 British Airways from Heathrow
1010 EZY402 Easyjet from Luton
1050 BA1477 British Airways to Heathrow
1315 BA1478 British Airways from Heathrow
Airlines warn of further delays and disruptions
Heathrow said operations were “recovering” but cautioned that passengers should expect knock-on delays. Gatwick added that flights had restarted but it would “take time for our operations to fully return to normal”.
British Airways told customers disruption would affect operations through Wednesday at least and offered free rebooking until Friday.
Multiple carriers advised travellers to check flight status before heading to the airport.
Cause of disruption
NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe ruled out a cyber attack and said a “very, very thorough investigation” would follow.
He told the BBC the problem was different from the 2023 summer outage that caused chaos at Gatwick and described it as something “we have never seen before in 50 years”.
Investigators had not yet established the precise cause as of Wednesday morning.
Passenger advice and rights
If your flight is cancelled or significantly delayed, you may be entitled to care (meals, refreshments, accommodation where necessary) and, depending on circumstances, compensation under UK/EU passenger rights rules.
Airlines are offering rebooking options; check directly with your carrier for the latest status and alternatives.
