The disruption began when National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the organization responsible for overseeing aircraft movements across UK airspace and parts of the North Atlantic, suffered a radar-related failure. The fault triggered a temporary switch to a backup system, causing significant delays and cancellations at major airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, and Edinburgh.
Although the system was restored late Wednesday, residual effects lingered into Thursday as airlines and airport operators scrambled to deal with the backlog of stranded passengers and grounded flights.
Transport Minister Heidi Alexander addressed the incident publicly, stating that there was “no evidence of malign activity” behind the outage. She reiterated that safety remained the top priority, and said she would continue to receive regular briefings from NATS. Following a meeting with NATS Chief Executive Martin Rolfe, Alexander emphasized the need for swift recovery efforts while acknowledging the frustrations faced by travelers.
“I know that any disruption is frustrating for passengers. Flights are now resumed,” she posted on the social media platform X.
Despite the return to near-normal operations, data from aviation analytics firm Cirium highlighted the scale of the disruption: as of Wednesday evening, 122 flights had been cancelled, with an additional 23 scrapped by early Thursday. Heathrow, Britain’s busiest airport, reported cancellations affecting flights to destinations including Brussels and Toronto, as well as inbound services from New York and Berlin.
This incident is the second major failure involving NATS in recent years. In August 2023, a separate technical issue involving flight plan processing led to widespread delays, prompting calls for a thorough overhaul of the agency’s systems.
Ryanair’s Chief Operating Officer Neal McMahon criticized the repeated failures, calling for NATS CEO Martin Rolfe to resign. “It’s clear no lessons have been learned,” McMahon said, expressing frustration over the lack of progress since last year’s incident.
Heathrow itself has faced infrastructure challenges in recent months. A fire at a power substation in March left thousands of passengers stranded, compounding concerns over the resilience of the UK’s aviation infrastructure.
NATS has issued another public apology and reaffirmed that there is no indication of cyber interference. However, with passenger confidence shaken and industry leaders demanding accountability, the pressure is mounting for more robust systems and clearer communication to prevent similar disruptions in the future.