More than 2,000 flights to and from the UK were cancelled or delayed after a technical failure in the flight data processing system operated by National Air Traffic Services (Nats), the country's air traffic control provider.
The glitch emerged early on Tuesday afternoon and led to 1,750 cancellations that day. A further 327 flights were cancelled on Wednesday, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium, as airlines and airports dealt with the backlog.
FlightRadar identified Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham as the worst affected airports. Edinburgh and Stansted were also significantly affected. Nats provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports, meaning a failure in its central systems can quickly spread through airline schedules.
Nats said by Tuesday afternoon that the issue affecting its flight data processing system had been resolved. At about 7.30pm, it announced that the 'system issue' had been resolved. The provider later said recovery had 'taken longer than we had hoped'.
The distinction mattered to passengers: fixing the immediate fault did not restore aircraft, crews and airport slots to their planned positions. Carriers continued to face cancellations and delays after the system issue was declared resolved.
Ryanair said around 150,000 of its passengers had been affected by delays of up to eight hours. The airline said it had cancelled more than 200 flights. EasyJet said the failure caused 'delays to flights across Europe'. British Airways, KLM and Lufthansa also experienced disruption.
NATS said that 'safety was not compromised' during the incident. The exact cause remains unclear. Martin Rolfe, Nats' chief executive, told Sky News that the company had not yet 'fully done the investigation' needed to establish what caused the problem.
Rolfe was summoned at lunchtime to meet Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary. Downing Street said Nats must report back within one week with details of what went wrong during Tuesday's incident. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is also carrying out an independent review.
A spokesperson said of Rolfe: 'We have confidence in him and he's been tasked with an investigation'.
The disruption has nevertheless renewed pressure on the company's leadership. Ryanair's chief operating officer, Neal McMahon, called on Rolfe to resign. Yvonne Moynihan, managing director of Wizz Air UK, said: 'in any position where you've had three failures you need to consider three strikes and your out'.
Nats is 49% owned by the government. Rolfe has led the organisation since May 2015 and earned £1.4m for the year ended 31 March, including a £343,000 bonus.
The failure follows a computer shutdown over the August bank holiday weekend in 2023, which caused chaos for 700,000 passengers. The current investigation will have to establish both the underlying cause of the latest fault and why the recovery continued after Nats said its system issue had been resolved.
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