UK airlines slam air traffic control after second technical glitch in two weeks

A technical fault at the Prestwick centre in Ayrshire caused widespread disruption at airports across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England on Monday, delaying dozens of flights. Nats, which runs the UK's air traffic control, said the problem stemmed from a connectivity issue unrelated to a separate software defect at its Swanwick centre that had led to 2,000 flight cancellations earlier in September.

According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, by 13:45 BST on Monday at least 200 flights had been cancelled or failed to operate — 100 due to arrive in the UK and 99 due to depart. EasyJet was hit hardest, cancelling 47 of its 670 scheduled departures, while British Airways cancelled 11 of 513. Ryanair said the disruption affected 140 of its flights and around 25,000 passengers.

Airlines demand change

EasyJet said the incident again raised questions about the resilience of the system, while Wizz Air described a "national confidence crisis" in Nats. Wizz Air UK managing director Yvonne Moynihan called for urgent reform and said she lacked confidence in current leadership, questioning what the board of directors was doing. Ryanair repeated its call for Nats chief Martin Rolfe to resign, while Jet2's boss demanded urgent action to strengthen air traffic infrastructure.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority said affected passengers were unlikely to be entitled to compensation, as the incident may be classed as "extraordinary circumstances" under passenger rights rules. A Nats spokesperson apologised for the disruption, stressing that safety remains the top priority and that the service was working to restore normal operations. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander acknowledged the situation was "deeply frustrating" for passengers.