Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe has been summoned to meet UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander on Wednesday, as flight cancellations passed 1,900 during a second day of disruption affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers.
The breakdown affected major airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted. Flights have resumed at Heathrow and Gatwick, but both airports warned that disruption could continue as airlines reposition aircraft and crew.
What caused the disruption
Nats said the incident began at about 1pm on Tuesday and involved a technical problem in its flight processing system. Martin Rolfe said a cyber-attack had been ruled out and that Nats would carry out a full investigation.
Nats said the recovery was complex and had created difficulties across the aviation network. Rolfe defended the resilience of the systems operated by Nats, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports.
Key points
- Nats said the problem occurred in its flight processing system and was not the same fault as outages in 2023 and 2025.
- Ryanair said more than 250 of its flights had been cancelled and that the disruption would cost the airline millions.
- Heathrow recorded 541 cancellations among the 1,750 cancellations reported there on Tuesday.
Airlines call for leadership changes
Ryanair and Wizz Air called on Heidi Alexander or the Nats board to remove Rolfe or appoint a replacement. The airlines linked their demands to the latest incident being the third major stoppage affecting flights in just over three years.
Ryanair chief operations officer Neal McMahon questioned whether sufficient backup systems were available. Wizz Air UK managing director Yvonne Moynihan said the repeated failures raised serious questions about system resilience and leadership accountability. For additional context, see “Incheon leads global airport rankings as Middle East traffic shifts”.
What passengers should expect
Heathrow advised passengers to check their flight status with their airline before travelling and to go to the airport only if their flight was confirmed to be operating. Gatwick said flights had resumed but warned that disruption was likely to continue.
The failure initially stopped departing flights at Heathrow. As the airport became too full to accommodate more aircraft, some arriving flights were diverted to airports elsewhere in Europe. Disruption also affected Birmingham, Edinburgh and Belfast.
What happens next
Rolfe is due to brief Alexander on Wednesday, while Nats has said it will conduct a full investigation into the technical issue.
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