Hundreds of flights delayed, cancelled after UK air traffic control glitch

What the report says

Hundreds of flights across major UK airports were delayed or cancelled on Tuesday after a technical fault hit National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the country’s air traffic control provider, Al Jazeera reported. The disruption affected hubs including Heathrow, Gatwick, London City, Luton, Edinburgh and Bristol, creating long queues and widespread knock-on delays for passengers and airlines.

According to Al Jazeera, NATS said the problem involved its flight data processing system and later stated the fault had been fixed. The provider said it was working to clear the backlog and return to normal operations. Flight-tracking data cited in the report showed roughly 490 departure delays and about 525 arrivals that were either delayed or cancelled at the listed airports as of mid-afternoon GMT.

Airlines sharply criticised the episode. Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers were affected and that it had cancelled more than 50 flights. The airline also called for the resignation of NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe and urged government intervention. Aviation analyst John Strickland told Al Jazeera that even short outages can trigger major disruption because airline schedules are tightly connected.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority said it expects a full report from NATS and will consider whether changes are needed to improve system reliability. The incident comes three years after another NATS flight-plan processing failure caused broader disruption, adding to scrutiny of the UK’s air traffic control infrastructure.