Breaking News · Sep 9, 2026Nearly 2,000 UK Flights Cancelled After Air Traffic Control Glitch

KEMETIC MINDS — BREAKING NEWS
September 09, 2026

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Nearly 2,000 flights to and from UK airports were cancelled after an air traffic control “technical issue” at Nats on Tuesday that affected hundreds of thousands of passengers, and delays were still rippling through the network on Wednesday ^[1][2].

Key Facts

• Aviation analytics firm Cirium put Tuesday’s cancellations at more than 1,750, with 153 more flights axed on Wednesday ^[1]; tracking site Flightradar24 counted at least 177 Wednesday cancellations, “nearly all at London Heathrow” ^[2].
• The disruption began around 1pm Tuesday at departing flights in Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted; Nats announced at 1:46pm it was investigating a technical issue, and at 4:40pm said its flight processing system was fixed ^[2].
• Ryanair said more than 65,000 passengers were delayed and 50 flights cancelled ^[1][2]. EasyJet made 200 cancellations, and British Airways cancelled more than 100 flights ^[1].
• Heathrow said Tuesday night that departures had resumed but arrivals were suspended for the rest of the night, and it advised passengers to travel only if they had a confirmed flight operating ^[1][2].
• Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has summoned Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe to a meeting and will address MPs in the House of Commons on Wednesday ^[1][2].

Why recovery will take time

Nats, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports, first flagged the problem at 1:46pm and traced it to its flight processing system ^[2]. By the time the fix was announced at 4:40pm, most flights scheduled to depart had not yet taken off, and the disruption spread to incoming flights across much of southern England ^[2]. Some inbound flights were held at airports abroad by Eurocontrol, the European airspace coordinator, and easyJet reported knock-on effects across Europe ^[2].

“This has been a very complex recovery and has created difficulties for the whole aviation network, from which it will take time to recover,” Nats said Tuesday evening ^[2]. British Airways said disruption would affect operations into Wednesday at least, with free rebooking offered until Friday ^[2]. Airports in Ireland also reported disruption, and flyers have been advised to keep checking with their airlines because it will take a while for flights to fully resume ^[1].

Flightradar24 counted more than 1,000 cancellations by about 8pm Tuesday ^[2]. The knock-on effects also hit airports around the UK, including Edinburgh and Belfast ^[2], and Nats warned the problems would take time to unwind ^[2].

Airlines and ministers demand answers

Rolfe apologised and said there would be a full investigation, after the company admitted resolving the issue had taken “longer than hoped” ^[1]. He was scheduled to brief Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander on Wednesday, and Alexander will address the Commons for the second reading of the civil aviation bill ^[2]. The BBC reported that Alexander is expected to tell MPs that a cyber attack was “categorically” not the cause of the fault ^[1].

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told the BBC the situation was “frankly unacceptable” ^[1]. Ryanair and Wizz Air have called for an overhaul of Nats, with Wizz Air saying the provider was “not fit for purpose” in its current form ^[1]. Wizz Air UK managing director Yvonne Moynihan repeated her call for Rolfe to consider his position: “I think in any position where you’ve had three failures you need to consider three strikes and your out” ^[1].

Asked whether he was considering his position, Rolfe said there would be “lots of time for that later,” and argued that the UK has one of the world’s best systems: “we do have one of the best systems and one of the best services in the world” ^[1]. A Nats spokesperson said Tuesday’s fault was not the same as those that caused outages and mass disruption in 2023 and 2025 ^[2]. The BBC noted the 2023 computer shutdown affected 700,000 passengers and a smaller 2025 outage caused 150 cancellations ^[1].

What’s Still Unconfirmed

The precise cause of the technical fault has not been publicly identified beyond Nats’ statement that the problem lay in its flight processing system ^[2]. A spokesperson said the fault was not the same one behind the 2023 and 2025 outages ^[2], and Rolfe promised a full investigation ^[1]. Alexander is expected to tell MPs on Wednesday that a cyber attack was “categorically” not the cause, but that statement had not yet been made to the House as of Wednesday morning’s reports ^[1].

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References

1. BBC. (2026, September 9). More flights delayed after hundreds cancelled by air traffic control glitch. bbc.com ↩a ↩b ↩c ↩d ↩e ↩f ↩g ↩h ↩i ↩j ↩k ↩l ↩m ↩n ↩o ↩p
2. The Guardian. (2026, September 8). UK air traffic control chaos disrupts flights for hundreds of thousands of passengers. theguardian.com ↩a ↩b ↩c ↩d ↩e ↩f ↩g ↩h ↩i ↩j ↩k ↩l ↩m ↩n ↩o ↩p ↩q ↩r

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