A technical issue disrupts flights across Scotland, Northern Ireland and north England

Flight disruptions have been ongoing across Scotland, Northern Ireland, and northern England on Monday due to a technical issue at the Prestwick Centre. An ongoing Flight Data Processing System (FDPS) failure at Prestwick Centre has reduced Scottish-controlled airspace capacity to 60%, resulting in high delays and no critical flights being accepted.

The restrictions are currently set to last until 14:00. NATS, formerly known as National Air Traffic Services, confirmed that engineers are still investigating the issue at their Scottish center. They stated that airports south of Manchester, including those in and out of London, are largely unaffected, although flights heading north and departing from Scottish airports are experiencing some delays.

The disruption is not linked to the software glitch that caused the cancellation of over 2,000 flights in and out of the UK two weeks ago. EasyJet has criticized the situation, stating that it again raises questions about NATS' systems' resilience and the need for measures to prevent these repeated failures.