On Wednesday, an unspecified technical failure caused a major disruption to the UK’s air traffic control system. As a consequence, thousands of airline passengers experienced major travel disruptions. The National Air Traffic Services (NATS), which operates the air traffic systems, encountered a major outage at its Swanwick control center, leading to flight cancellations and diversions across major airports.
The technical issue occurred around 4:50 PM and lasted for approximately 20 minutes. NATS limited the number of aircraft allowed to fly in the greater London area. In response, planes were canceled at an unprecedented scale. By 5:10 PM, NATS resolved the problem, but the impact on air travel was already substantial.
Airports such as Heathrow, Stansted, Manchester, and Edinburgh announced SQs of thousands of laying aircraft throughout the breakage. Heathrow faced the highest number of cancellations, with over 45 departures and 35 arrivals cancelled across all UK airports by 5:30 PM. On top of that, upwards of 16 incoming flights headed to Heathrow were forced to divert to other airports.
EasyJet advised passengers to check for the most up-to-date flight and travel information. They personally called each person affected by the cancellations. British Airways said it was sorry for any inconvenience caused to affected passengers. We know their team is working around the clock to make amends.
“Departures at all airports have resumed and we are working with affected airlines and airports to clear the backlog safely.” – NATS
This event is the second severe NATS failure in a mere two years. The last major disruption was over a late summer bank holiday weekend in 2023, causing disruption to over 700,000 customers. Ryanair chief operating officer, Neal McMahon went so far as to call these widespread occurrences “outrageous.” He further called for the resignation of NATS chief executive, Martin Rolfe.
“It is outrageous that another air traffic control issue has disrupted the travel plans of thousands of passengers…” – Neal McMahon
Airlines and airports are facing significant ripple effects today as they continue to mop up post-technical issue fallout. Passengers are continuing to be asked to remain flexible and alert to changes in their travel itinerary while airlines continue to work to restore full operations.