A fresh technical glitch in the UK’s air traffic control system brought flight operations to a grinding halt on Wednesday.
More than 120 flights were cancelled, and several were forced to divert mid-air. Passengers found themselves stranded or delayed at airports across the country.
The problem originated at the Swanwick control centre in southwest England, run by the UK’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS). The agency was forced to limit aircraft in London’s airspace to manage the disruption.
By 7:30 pm, aviation analytics firm Cirium reported that 67 outbound and 55 inbound flights had been cancelled. Other planes had to reroute during their journeys.
Travellers were frustrated by the disruption, which hit during the summer travel season—one of the busiest periods for UK airports like Heathrow, Gatwick, and Edinburgh.
Many wondered why NATS had not learned from a similar incident last year that caused the worst system collapse in nearly a decade.
‘Resign Now!’ — Airlines Furious Over Repeat Failure
Airline bosses wasted no time in blaming NATS for the repeated failures.
Ryanair’s Chief Operating Officer Neal McMahon minced no words. “It is outrageous that NATS has allowed another total systems failure,” he said. “The CEO of NATS, Martin Rolfe, should resign immediately.”
McMahon accused the air traffic agency of failing to fix issues that first emerged in August 2023.
EasyJet’s COO David Morgan echoed the criticism. “It’s extremely disappointing,” he said. “This raises serious questions about the reliability of NATS’s systems, especially during high-demand travel times.”
The UK’s Department for Transport said it is collaborating with NATS to investigate what went wrong and how to avoid a repeat.
Flights Resume but Doubts Remain
NATS later said the technical issue had been resolved by 5:00 pm, one hour after it was first detected at around 4:00 pm.
“We identified and fixed the issue quickly,” a spokesperson for NATS said. “Departures are now underway across all UK airports.”
But doubts remain.
The industry is questioning how an advanced system like the UK’s air traffic control could fail again in less than a year—during peak holiday travel.
Are safety measures and backup systems in place, or are passengers just expected to wait, hope, and cope?
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