UK Summer Travel Thrown Into Chaos as Air Traffic Glitch Grounds Over 150 Flights

Travel across the United Kingdom faced major disruption on Wednesday following a technical malfunction at one of the nation’s key air traffic control centres, grounding and diverting more than 150 flights at the peak of the summer travel season. The incident has sparked widespread criticism from airline executives and renewed scrutiny over the robustness of the UK’s aviation infrastructure.

The issue, traced to a radar data fault at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) control centre in Swanwick, Hampshire, prompted immediate operational restrictions. Aircraft movements in and out of London’s airspace were reduced, impacting major airports such as Heathrow, Gatwick, and Edinburgh.

By evening, at least 67 outbound and 55 inbound flights had been cancelled, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. Several others were delayed or redirected as the system remained unstable for nearly an hour before being restored.

Ryanair’s Chief Operating Officer, Neal McMahon, openly condemned the disruption and called for the resignation of NATS CEO Martin Rolfe, accusing the organisation of repeated failures. “After the 2023 system crash, there were promises of reform. Today’s failure proves that little has changed,” McMahon said in a strongly worded statement.

easyJet’s COO, David Morgan, described the event as “extremely disappointing,” especially during one of the busiest periods for travel. “We need to understand what steps NATS is taking to ensure these failures are not repeated. Our customers deserve better,” he added.

In August 2023, NATS experienced a similarly serious outage that led to mass cancellations and stranded hundreds of thousands of passengers. That incident led to calls for upgrades in resilience and system redundancy changes that critics say have clearly not been implemented effectively.

The Department for Transport has confirmed that the issue was not caused by external interference or a cyberattack. A spokesperson said the government was “working closely with NATS to determine the cause of the fault and evaluate the existing contingency measures.”

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is expected to meet with NATS leadership for an emergency briefing. Her office emphasized the need for a transparent investigation and swift corrective measures.

As investigations continue, the incident serves as another stark reminder of the fragility of the UK’s aviation systems and the far-reaching consequences of even a short-lived technical failure.