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UK Air Traffic Control Fault Triggers Over 1,000 Flight Cancellations
More than 1,000 flights across the United Kingdom were cancelled on Tuesday, September 8, after a technical fault disrupted the country's air traffic control system, according to flight monitoring website Flightradar24. The disruption was caused by a glitch at NATS, the UK's air-traffic control provider, which affected departures at major airports nationwide.
Air traffic officials said that because planes could not safely take off, departures were severely delayed. NATS identified the issue in its flight-processing system on the afternoon of September 8, though the exact cause was not detailed. Airspace remained open throughout the incident, but departures were deliberately restricted to match the system's reduced capacity.
Approximately two hours after the problems began, NATS said its engineers had identified and fixed the fault, though it remained unclear how long a full return to normal operations would take. In a statement, NATS said flights were still departing and airspace remained open, but added that "recovery will take some time."
The UK's busiest airports were among those affected, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester, Birmingham, Luton, and Edinburgh. At one point, Flightradar24 reported around 300 cancellations, with hundreds of additional flights delayed. Heathrow alone recorded approximately 100 cancellations and 367 delays, while around 31 percent of Gatwick's schedule was delayed.
According to a BBC report, Heathrow ran out of space to accommodate arriving aircraft because departures had come to a halt. As of 1700 UTC, 625 flights had been cancelled at UK airports following an earlier technical problem at NATS' Shanwick air traffic control facility.
A NATS spokesperson apologised for the disruption, saying, "We apologise for the delay this will cause to journeys. Passengers should check with their airline on the status of their flight." NATS also said it was supporting its local team in resolving the issue as quickly as possible.
Heathrow Airport said in a statement that arriving flights were not initially affected, while departing flights faced disruption. The airport confirmed it was working closely with NATS to resolve the issue and advised passengers to check with their airlines for the latest flight information. NATS later said it had implemented a fix and that its flight system was beginning to recover, adding that it would continue working with airline and airport partners on the recovery process.
The single system fault caused disruption to cascade across the network, restricting departures, displacing aircraft and crews, causing missed connections, and leading to knock-on delays across Europe. Passengers were advised to check their airline's status page before travelling to the airport, avoid assuming that a delayed flight would operate on its revised schedule, and expect continued disruption even after the system itself was restored, as NATS indicated that full recovery would take additional time.