Theo Leggett
Business correspondent

This is the second failure at National Air Traffic Services, the company that looks after UK airspace, in less than a fortnight. We don’t know the details of what happened on this occasion, just that there was a technical failure at Nats’ control centre in Prestwick.

Nats has two main centres. The first, at Swanwick in Hampshire looks after airspace in the southern part of the UK, including the approaches to Heathrow and Gatwick.

Prestwick in Ayrshire looks after traffic across northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, catering for about 42% of the UK’s air traffic.

The failure on 8 September occurred at Swanwick. A software glitch, combined with what Nats described as very specific circumstances, knocked out networks used by controllers. Nats says the latest failure was different.

However, the fact that the UK’s air traffic control system has suffered two significant issues in a short space of time is likely to attract a great deal of criticism, and the pressure on chief executive Martin Rolfe - who insisted last week he would not resign - is only likely to mount.

Flight delays set back travellers around the country earlier this month after an air traffic control failure caused by a "software defect" prompted Nats' system to produce corrupted data.

The issue led to 2,000 cancelled flights at the UK's main airports, with hundreds of thousands of passengers impacted.

Questions are growing over the resilience of Nats' systems, and Airlines UK, an industry body, has called for immediate compensation for costs incurred

Separately, there are calls for Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign - though he told the BBC last week that he won't step aside, calling the software defect "very, very obscure."

"You can fly to almost anywhere from almost any airport at almost any time. If that stops, even for a moment, then you get huge disruption."

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander called the widespread disruption "completely unacceptable".

In 2023, a computer shutdown over the August bank holiday weekend caused chaos for 700,000 passengers.

There was another, smaller Nats outage in 2025, which caused 150 cancellations.

Ryanair has called on National Air Traffic Services (Nats) chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign after claiming over 140 of its flights have been delayed and more than 25,000 Ryanair passengers are expected to be disrupted following the outage.

Ryanair's chief operations officer, Neal McMahon, says Nats has failed to deliver "either a reliable system or an effective back-up" in the wake of repeated technical issues in August 2023 and 8 September this year.

He claims Rolfe has presided over "repeated system failures, repeated passenger disruption and repeated failures to deliver an effective back-up system", adding that "enough is enough".

"How many times must UK passengers suffer disruption before Martin Rolfe is replaced by somebody competent?" he adds.

Image source, Nats

We've received an update from aviation analytics company Cirium, which says 35 flights departing from the UK have been cancelled or did not fly so far on Monday.

It adds that of the 3,048 flights scheduled to arrive into the UK, 37 were cancelled or did not fly.

"If this were the end of the day...this level of cancellations is close to normal (around 1%). However, as it's early in the day, we anticipate that operational performance will degrade quickly," a spokesperson says.

Alex Emery
Your Voice

Steve Davies, 74, from Evesham, is currently stuck at Birmingham airport where he is waiting to travel with easyJet to Edinburgh with his wife Sandie.

He says they boarded the plane but were asked to disembark after 45 minutes.

“We are feeling tired after an early start, and quite uncertain about what is happening," he says.

“I’m cheesed off with air traffic control as it seems to be happening a lot. It’s not easyJet’s fault."

Steve adds that "about 20 people left the flight and have gone home because they didn’t want to wait".

Image source, Steve Davies

While the air traffic control issue that caused disruption across parts of the UK has been fixed, delays are still expected while "things reset", the transport secretary has warned.

Airports across the UK have reported varying degrees of disruption, they include:

• Glasgow and Aberdeen - Arrivals and departures, primarily at Glasgow, "experiencing delays" with "further disruption expected", says operator of both airports AviAlliance
• Manchester - Issue causing some delays, advises passengers to check with airlines before travel
• Newcastle - Experiencing "some delays" and in contact with Nats
• Liverpool - "Aware" of the issue and urges passengers to contact their airline
• Bristol - Experiencing some delays and cancellations "similar to other UK airports"

• London City - Experiencing "some disruption" and "working closely" with Nats to resolve the issue
• Belfast City - Warns that there "will be disruption" to both arrivals and departures

In another statement, National Air Traffic Services says they "experienced a technical issue at our Prestwick centre in Scotland" early this morning.

"To maintain safety, air traffic regulations were applied to manage traffic demand while our engineers investigated.

"This was a connectivity issue with part of our systems network, specific to the operation in Scotland. It is nothing to do with the problem we had earlier this month."

A short while ago, Nats confirmed the issue was fixed and said it was working with airports to lift air traffic restrictions as quickly as they can.

Earlier this month, 2000 flights were cancelled after a software defect, affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander says engineers have "fixed the problem and systems are resuming" after a technical issue with the UK's air traffic control.

"I know this will be deeply frustrating for passengers after the previous issue.

"There may be some delays as things reset. Please check with your airline for updates," she adds in a post on X.

Nats has also confirmed the issue is resolved.

National Air Traffic Services (Nats) says the issue in the Prestwick Centre is "now fixed".

“We are working with airports and airlines to safely lift air traffic regulations as quickly as we can to minimise any further disruption," it says.

"Passengers should still check the status of their flight with their airline. We apologise for the disruption.”

Glasgow airport says the technical issue affecting National Air Traffic Services's systems is causing delays, with "further disruption" expected.

"A technical issue affecting NATS air traffic control services at the Prestwick Centre is causing disruption to some flight departures and arrivals," says the airport.

"As a result, some services operating to and from our airports are experiencing delays," it says, adding that "further disruption is expected due to the knock-on impact across the network".

"We apologise for any inconvenience and advise passengers to check with their airline for the latest flight information before travelling."

Our reporter at the airport says the information board shows widespread delays to both domestic and international flights through the day.

Paul Ward
Reporting from Glasgow Airport

When I arrived at Glasgow airport this morning there was a tannoy call announcing an easyJet flight to Paris was cancelled.

That adds to a growing list. The departures board shows further cancellations on flights to Luton, Southampton, Belfast and Derry.

There are also some cancellations on flights to Scottish islandsand other flights are facing delays in taking off.

Some passengers have been coming through on arrival flights, but again the board shows widespread delays to both domestic and international flights through the day.

Image source, Getty Images

EasyJet says the flight disruption "calls into question the resilience of Nats' systems".

The airline says in a statement the failure in the Prestwick Centre is causing delays, with some flights "unable to operate".

“This, once again, calls into question the resilience of Nats’ systems and demonstrates the need for firm actions to prevent these repeated failures."

It adds they will do "all we can" to minimise the impact on customers and advises passengers check their flight tracker for the latest information.

It comes after an earlier disruption this month, caused by a "software defect" that left 2000 flights cancelled.

Highlands and Islands Airports says all 11 of the airports it runs are affected by the technical issue.

"A technical issue is impacting flight schedules across all of our airports. Please contact your airline for the latest update," an update says, posted across on the social media accounts of its airports:

• Inverness
• Dundee
• Stornaway
• Barra
• Benbecula
• Campbeltown
• Islay
• Kirkwall
• Tiree
• Sumburgh
• Wick John O'Groats

Catherine Lyst
BBC Scotland

Lewis Fraser, from Inverness, is stuck on the runway at Glasgow airport.

He had been hoping to make a connection flight to Chicago from Heathrow.

"We boarded the flight as normal but were immediately told we were delayed," he says. "The latest update was around half an hour ago to say we might be waiting another hour and 45 minutes."

He adds: "Some passengers have left the plane in the last few minutes. I’m on the 8am to Heathrow and due to fly to Chicago for work at 12:15 but that now looks unlikely... they’ve given us tea and snacks."

A spokesperson for Edinburgh airport says:

"We are experiencing some delays due to the Nats issue at Prestwick Centre.

"We are monitoring the situation closely and are working with Nats as they work to resolve the issue."

A spokesperson for Ryanair says they have been notified of a Nats "equipment failure" affecting airspace above Scotland and northern England.

Abigail Taylor
BBC Northern Ireland

Belfast International airport has posted on Facebook to remind passengers to check with their airlines about flight information.

Arrivals and departures board show some delays but no cancellations yet.

Belfast City airport shows several arrivals and departures cancelled including flights to and from Manchester, Amsterdam, London City and, later on towards lunchtime, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, City of Derry has departures and arrivals from Glasgow cancelled.

The Manchester Airports Group says there have been delays of up to an hour on some flights at Manchester, with no cancellations so far.

There have also been a few delays at East Midlands airport, which the group also runs. The company says passengers should check with airlines before they travel.

The previous statement from National Air Traffic Services (Nats) says "airports south of Manchester are broadly unaffected".

Here's a new statement from Nats, the air traffic control service:

"Our engineers are continuing to investigate the issue at our Prestwick centre in Scotland," it says.

"Airports south of Manchester are broadly unaffected, however flights heading north and flights departing Scottish airports are currently subject to some delay.

"Passengers should check with their airlines. This is unrelated to the issue two weeks ago. We apologise for the disruption."

This is a breaking story, we'll have more details soon.

Passengers at airports in Scotland and Northern Ireland are facing delays this morning after an air traffic control problem.

A spokesman for National Air Traffic Services (Nats) says:

"We are investigating a technical issue at our Prestwick centre in Scotland.

"To maintain safety, air traffic regulations have been applied to manage traffic demand.

"Engineers are on site investigating and working to resolve the issue. The issue is unrelated to the technical problems experienced earlier this month.

"We apologise for the disruption and any delays to passengers' journeys. Passengers should check with their airline for the latest information on their flight."

We’ll have more on this story as it develops from our teams across the UK.