Technical failure disrupts flights across London airports

A technical failure at the UK’s air traffic control provider NATS caused widespread disruption at London’s major airports on Tuesday, 8 September 2026. The problem affected NATS’ flight-processing system, forcing significant restrictions on air traffic and resulting in hundreds of delays and cancellations across the UK.

Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and London City were among the airports affected. The disruption also caused knock-on effects across European airports as flights to the UK were delayed or held at their departure points.

NATS said it identified the problem and implemented a fix at around 16:40 BST. However, significant disruption continued as airlines worked to recover their schedules.

Ryanair said more than 65,000 passengers had been affected and called for NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign. Other airlines, including Wizz Air, also criticised the reliability of the UK’s air traffic control system.

The incident comes three years after a major NATS failure in August 2023 caused thousands of flight delays and cancellations across the UK and Europe.

NATS has apologised for the disruption and said it is working with airports and airlines to restore normal operations.