Thousands of passengers face a second day of travel chaos across UK airports after a software failure in the national air traffic control system grounded more than 1,000 flights on Tuesday and triggered widespread cancellations and delays into Wednesday.
UK airports warn of further travel disruption after a software failure in the national air traffic control system
A technical fault in National Air Traffic Services’ (NATS) flight data processing system began around early afternoon on Tuesday, preventing many flights from landing and taking off at the UK’s busiest hubs.
Controllers reverted to manual procedures while engineers worked on a fix, sharply reducing capacity and forcing diversions. NATS said the issue was resolved late on Tuesday and that the system was operating normally, but warned recovery would take time as backlogs were cleared.
Around 1,300 flights were cancelled on Tuesday across UK airports
Flight tracking data shows around 1,300 flights were cancelled on Tuesday across UK airports, with tens of thousands of passengers stranded.
By Wednesday morning, a further 177 flights had already been axed, almost all at Heathrow, as airlines struggled to reposition aircraft and crew.
Heathrow reported 246 cancellations by 6am on Wednesday, while Gatwick faced 33, and disruption also hit Manchester, Birmingham, Stansted and other airports.
Airlines warn of further delays and disruptions
Heathrow said operations were “recovering” but cautioned that passengers should expect knock-on delays. Gatwick added that flights had restarted but it would “take time for our operations to fully return to normal”.
British Airways told customers disruption would affect operations through Wednesday at least and offered free rebooking until Friday.
Multiple carriers advised travellers to check flight status before heading to the airport.
Cause of disruption
NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe ruled out a cyber attack and said a “very, very thorough investigation” would follow.
He told the BBC the problem was different from the 2023 summer outage that caused chaos at Gatwick and described it as something “we have never seen before in 50 years”.
Investigators had not yet established the precise cause as of Wednesday morning.
Passenger advice and rights
If your flight is cancelled or significantly delayed, you may be entitled to care (meals, refreshments, accommodation where necessary) and, depending on circumstances, compensation under UK/EU passenger rights rules.
Airlines are offering rebooking options; check directly with your carrier for the latest status and alternatives.
