{
  "id": 6312109,
  "title": "UK air traffic control problem strands hundreds of thousands of passengers",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/08/uk-air-traffic-control-problem-strands-hundreds-of-thousands-of",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-08T18:26:49.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Guardian Business",
    "slug": "guardian-business",
    "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/sep/08/air-traffic-control-issue-flights-delays-disruption-uk"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "At least 600 flights were cancelled across the United Kingdom due to a technical glitch at air traffic control provider Nats, marking the third incident in just over three years. The issue, which began around 1pm on Tuesday, affected both departing and arriving flights at major airports such as Heathrow and Gatwick, as well as causing delays and disruptions to flights across Europe. British Airways reported that the disruption would affect operations through Wednesday, with passengers offered free rebooking until Friday. Ryanair said over 65,000 passengers had been affected. Eurocontrol stated that inbound flights were being held at airports abroad, with disruption likely until the evening. All London airports, Manchester, and Birmingham were among the most directly impacted. EasyJet experienced 137 cancellations, while KLM, Eurowings, and Ryanair each had 22 and 21 cancelled flights respectively, as of 5pm. Nats acknowledged the issue and implemented a fix at 4.40pm, but admitted that the system was only \"starting to recover.\" British Airways acknowledged the severity of the issue, noting that more than 100 flights had been cancelled or diverted, causing inconvenience to tens of thousands of customers. Airlines called for an overhaul of Nats following the repeated failures, with Ryanair's CEO suggesting the air traffic controller's chief executive, Martin Rolfe, resign. British Airways spokesperson, Heathrow, and airlines worldwide expressed frustration and called for a new leader to manage the UK air traffic control system. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander apologized for the inconvenience and sought assurances that lessons would be learned to improve the aviation system.",
  "summary": "At least 600 flights cancelled as airlines call for overhaul of ATC system after third incident in as many years UK airport disruption: what are your rights? Hundreds of thousands of air passengers had flights delayed or cancelled after another UK air traffic control technical glitch kept planes grounded for hours on Tuesday. Airlines demanded action after a “technical issue” at the air traffic…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}