NATS faces pressure after second air traffic control failure disrupts UK flights
A second NATS air traffic control failure in less than two weeks disrupted flights from Prestwick, affecting Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, with airlines demanding action.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Flights across the UK were disrupted for the second time in less than a fortnight after a technical failure at the NATS air traffic control centre at Prestwick in Ayrshire.
The fault was discovered at about 5:30am. NATS described it as a connectivity issue with part of its systems network. Engineers fixed it after about five hours. NATS said the problem was not the same as the software fault on September 8 that grounded around 2,000 flights and caused days of knock-on disruption. It apologised to passengers and said safety remained its top priority.
The disruption affected airports served by the Prestwick centre, including Glasgow, Prestwick, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Belfast City, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle. Bristol and London Luton were also affected, according to one account, while Highlands and Islands airports at Dundee, Inverness and Islay said schedules were impacted. Belfast International also saw cancellations. Manchester Airport recorded 146 delays, most no longer than 20 minutes. Belfast City and Belfast International each had 18 cancellations.
Passengers faced cancelled flights, long waits and poor information. At Edinburgh, departure boards were sparse and one passenger was rebooked from midday to evening with no guarantee. A wedding party at Glasgow wondered how they would reach Las Vegas. One passenger trying to reach Edinburgh said a cancelled hotel bill had reached £500, and another said they had been caught in the earlier September disruption at Bristol before being hit again.
Airlines reacted angrily. Ryanair called for NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign. EasyJet said the failure again called into question the resilience of NATS systems. British Airways called it disappointing, Jet2 said it was not good enough, and Airlines UK demanded urgent action. One airline representative described the situation as almost tantamount to a national catastrophe and questioned whether NATS had enough resilience in peak season.
NATS said the system issue was fixed and services were running at full capacity. The government, which is the biggest shareholder in NATS with a 49% stake, did not offer public backing to Rolfe. The Prime Minister said the problems were clearly serious and needed to be fully investigated, and the Transport Secretary was taking them seriously. The Civil Aviation Authority is already investigating the September 8 outage and the broader resilience of NATS. It will include today's incident and is expected to report within six months.
For passengers, cash compensation is unlikely because the disruption is treated as extraordinary circumstances outside the airline's control. Airlines must provide alternative flights as soon as possible, along with meals and accommodation where needed. The repeated failures have left airports, airlines and passengers asking why the UK's air traffic control system has suffered two major incidents in such a short period.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | Channel 5 | BBC One | Channel 4 | GB News | ITV | Sky News |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Around 150 to 250 flights were cancelled or delayed, disrupting airports across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, including Glasgow, Prestwick, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Belfast City, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle. | · | · | ||||
| Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said engineers had fixed the issue at the Prestwick Centre and described the disruption as deeply frustrating for passengers. | · | · | ||||
| At least 200 flights were cancelled on the day. | · | · | · | |||
| Michael O'Leary called for NATS boss Martin Rolfe to resign. | · | · | · | |||
| NATS said a fresh Prestwick incident was due to a software issue and unrelated to earlier technical problems or the August 2023 outage. | · | · | · | |||
| The UK government holds a 49% stake in NATS. | · | · | · | |||
| A second NATS air traffic control fault in under a month occurred at the Prestwick Centre, involving a connectivity issue discovered around 5:30am and fixed after about five hours; NATS said it was not the same as the earlier software defect. | · | · | · | · | ||
| NATS has had repeated major air traffic control problems, including a second incident within a month and further issues in 2023 and 2025. | · | · | · | · | ||
| The Prime Minister's spokesman did not express confidence in Martin Rolfe. | · | · | · | · | ||
| The transport secretary ordered an independent review by the CAA to report within six months. | · | · | · | · | ||
| Airlines expressed a lack of confidence in NATS's system and leadership, and Airlines UK demanded urgent action after the second air traffic control issue. | · | · | · | · | · | |
| Airlines UK said passengers and airlines deserved better after the disruption. | · | · | · | · | · |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The first 5 News segment framed the failure as wearying deja vu and focused on passenger frustration, airline confidence and the Prestwick centre. It gave space to a passenger caught up in disruption for the second time and highlighted airlines questioning NATS leadership.
- “It's the second time in a month that NATS who run air traffic control has had big issues.”
- “It becomes a question of confidence.”
- “There's no way this is happening for a second time.”
BBC News gave a detailed, passenger-led report from Edinburgh and Glasgow, with airline anger and business analysis. It stressed that this was the second failure in a fortnight and that the CAA investigation would take months.
- “For the second time in a fortnight a problem with air traffic control systems led to delays and cancellations”
- “It just undermines confidence in what is a hugely important part of the national infrastructure”
- “the Civil Aviation Authority is looking at what happened in early September is likely to take account of what happened today”
ITV Evening News led on airline demands for NATS chief Martin Rolfe to resign and gave a clear list of affected airports. It combined studio analysis with live reports from Belfast, Manchester and Edinburgh, and stressed that passengers would not receive cash compensation.
- “Ryanair say enough is enough. Martin Rolfe should resign today”
- “This is now a fourth failure, particularly in peak season”
- “there won't be any cash compensation because this is clearly not the airline's responsibility”
Channel 4 focused on accountability and resilience, with a Scotland correspondent reporting from Glasgow. It noted Glasgow had the most cancellations and asked whether NATS should face the same accountability as airlines when delays are its fault.
- “two faults in the space of a fortnight does not instil passenger confidence”
- “Airline are accountable for delays and cancellations when it's the airline's fault so why not have a similar piece of legislation for organisations like NATS”
- “the UK government has a 49% stake in that now”
The late ITV bulletin repeated the main report but added fresh political context. It highlighted the Prime Minister's comments and the pressure on Martin Rolfe, while keeping passenger frustration and compensation at the centre.
- “these are clearly serious issues and they need to be fully investigated”
- “Ryanair say enough is enough. Martin Rolfe should resign today”
- “the government is the biggest shareholder in NATS even though it's a private company”
This BBC bulletin again led on the second failure in two weeks, but put more emphasis on political reaction and the unresolved question of whether NATS has a systemic problem. It included a lower cancelled-flight figure than some other broadcasters.
- “Andy Burnham has said the air traffic control problems that have caused widespread disruption for the second time in two weeks are clearly very serious and need to be fully investigated”
- “The repeated failures have led to more calls for the resignation of the head of NATS, Martin Rolfe”
- “the CAA is unlikely to report back for another six months”
GB News treated the story as a short news roundup inside a late-night programme. It stressed political pressure on Martin Rolfe, airline demands for urgent action and the scale of the crisis, before moving to unrelated migration and newspaper items.
- “the Prime Minister says the crisis over hundreds of cancelled flights today is clearly serious and must be fully investigated”
- “The chaos has put even more pressure on Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of the National Air Traffic Control Service, who Mr Burnham has refused to back”
- “airline chiefs are now saying, sack the £1.4 million boss after a second meltdown this month”
The follow-up 5 News segment shifted to consumer rights and context. It explained that passengers could get rebooking, meals and hotels but not cash compensation, and compared UK problems with disruption in the United States and French air traffic controller strikes.
- “there will have been thousands of people who woke up this morning, not where they expected to be”
- “they are absolutely not going to get any cash compensation”
- “London is the busiest airspace in the world”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.