UK flights disrupted after NATS flight processing system failure

Flights across the UK have been delayed and disrupted after a technical problem affected NATS’ flight processing system on Tuesday afternoon.

Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh were among the airports reporting disruption, with restrictions affecting departures and creating delays across the wider UK network.

NATS initially said it was investigating a technical issue before confirming that the problem had been located within its flight processing system.

“We have identified that the issue was in our flight processing system,” NATS said. “Our engineers are on site and working urgently to resume normal operations as quickly as possible.”

The air traffic control provider stressed that UK airspace remained open and flights were continuing to depart, although it warned that recovery would take time.

Heathrow and Gatwick flights face lengthy delays

Heathrow initially said the problem was affecting departing flights, while arriving services were continuing. However, restrictions across the London Flight Information Region also resulted in some inbound aircraft being held or diverted.

Flight tracking service Flightradar24 reported that both arrivals and departures were being heavily regulated. Eurocontrol information suggested disruption could continue into Tuesday evening as airlines and airports worked through the resulting backlog.

Eurocontrol now lists London-Heathrow as unavailable for arrivals between 1400-1600 UTC. Inbound flights currently holding or diverting. https://t.co/TEHf2kJO23 pic.twitter.com/i5vhyxZPzN

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) September 8, 2026

British Airways confirmed that some flights had been affected, saying its teams were working to restore passengers’ travel plans.

Disruption was also reported beyond London, including at Manchester, Birmingham, Belfast City, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Southampton, East Midlands and Jersey airports. Flights serving Dublin were affected by restrictions within UK-controlled airspace.

Cause of NATS system failure not yet confirmed

NATS has not disclosed what caused the flight processing system problem. There is currently no official confirmation that it was connected to a cyberattack.

The incident follows previous failures involving the UK’s air traffic control infrastructure. In August 2023, an unusual flight plan caused both the primary and backup flight processing systems to enter a fail-safe mode, contributing to more than 1,600 flight cancellations and affecting over 700,000 passengers.

A radar-related technical failure also disrupted flights at major UK airports in July 2025, while just last month Manchester Airports Group suffered a significant cyber attack.

NATS said further information would be released once it had confirmed the details and advised passengers to continue checking with their airlines.