New Delhi. Air travel across the United Kingdom was severely disrupted after a technical failure at air traffic control provider NATS affected its flight-data processing system, resulting in more than 1,000 flight cancellations and hundreds of delays. Major airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, London City, Luton, Edinburgh and Bristol, were affected, while airlines warned passengers that disruption could continue as airports worked to clear the backlog.
NATS said the technical problem was resolved at 18:34 GMT and that aviation safety had not been compromised. However, the company warned that restoring normal operations would take time because of the large number of flights affected during the outage. NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe said the investigation into the cause of the failure was still underway and that the company did not yet have a definitive explanation for what had gone wrong.
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According to flight-tracking data, around 1,300 flights to and from UK airports were cancelled on Tuesday. A further 177 cancellations had already been recorded for Wednesday, most of them involving Heathrow. The airport said arrivals had been suspended for the remainder of Tuesday, while departures had resumed, but warned that passengers should expect continuing disruption.
Flight data also showed around 490 departures delayed across the six major airports. Another 525 arrivals were either cancelled or delayed. At Heathrow, dozens of scheduled arrivals were cancelled or could not operate. British Airways was among the carriers most heavily affected at the airport, with 16 of its scheduled departures cancelled.
The disruption has renewed concerns over the resilience of the UK’s air traffic control infrastructure. The latest incident comes about three years after a separate NATS flight-plan processing failure caused widespread disruption across British airports. Aviation analysts warned that even a relatively short technical outage can create significant consequences because flights and aircraft movements are closely connected across Europe’s aviation network.
Airlines have also intensified calls for changes at NATS. Ryanair said around 150,000 of its passengers had been affected by delays of up to eight hours and that more than 200 flights had been cancelled. The airline’s chief operating officer called for NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign.
Wizz Air also demanded urgent reform, arguing that airlines, passengers and airports should not repeatedly bear the consequences of failures involving critical aviation infrastructure. The carrier said the latest disruption raised serious questions about the reliability of the UK’s air traffic control system.
Air India Flights Also Affected
The disruption also affected Air India services operating to and from UK airports. In a passenger advisory, the airline said it had been forced to divert, delay or cancel multiple flights because of the air traffic control problem.
Air India warned that the impact could extend to some other services because aircraft and crew members were left out of position following the disruption. The airline advised passengers to check the latest status of their flights before leaving for the airport.
The airline said it was closely monitoring the situation and taking steps to minimise the impact on passengers. It also expressed regret for the inconvenience caused by the incident, which it said was beyond its control.
Regulator Seeks Full Report
The UK’s aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, said it expected NATS to provide a comprehensive report on Tuesday’s incident. The regulator will then assess whether additional measures are required to improve the reliability and resilience of the country’s air traffic control system.
The issue has attracted additional scrutiny because NATS had previously been asked to strengthen contingency arrangements following an earlier flight-plan processing malfunction. Another technical problem involving radar systems disrupted flights at major London airports and other locations for several hours last year.
The latest failure has therefore renewed pressure on authorities and air traffic control operators to strengthen backup systems and contingency planning. For passengers, the immediate concern remains clearing the backlog of cancelled and delayed flights, with airlines warning that the effects of the disruption could continue even after the technical fault itself has been resolved.
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About the author — Suvedita Nath is a science student with a growing interest in cybercrime and digital safety. She writes on online activity, cyber threats, and technology-driven risks. Her work focuses on clarity, accuracy, and public awareness.
