UK hit by new air traffic outage, flights cancelled

UK flights experienced a second technical disruption at its air traffic control agency, causing over 2,000 cancellations and delays on September 8 and 9, affecting more than 330,000 passengers. The National Air Traffic Services (NATS) apologized for the latest incident at a center in Scotland, emphasizing that the issue was unrelated to the one two weeks prior.

Aviation analytics firm Cirium reported that 72 out of more than 6,000 flights to or from the UK were cancelled, with a high impact on Glasgow and Belfast airports. However, London-area airports were not significantly affected. Transport Minister Heidi Alexander expressed frustration over the new IT issue, following a similar incident earlier in the month.

Ryanair, Britain's largest carrier by passenger numbers, called for NATS Chief Executive Martin Rolfe's resignation, citing over 140 cancelled flights and delays for more than 25,000 passengers. This marks Britain's worst air systems failure since 2023, when over 700,000 passengers faced delays or cancellations. NATS operates under a public-private partnership model, with the government holding a 49% stake and a golden share enabling strategic intervention.