UK flights delayed after second air traffic control glitch in two weeks
Air traffic control technical failure at NATS Prestwick centre causes widespread UK flight delays and airline criticism.
Flight operations across Scotland, Northern Ireland, and northern England faced severe disruption on Monday following a technical failure at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) Prestwick control centre. Major hubs including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, and Manchester reported delays and cancellations, with airlines such as easyJet, Loganair, and British Airways impacted.
NATS confirmed engineers resolved the glitch and stated the incident was "unrelated" to a major system failure that occurred two weeks earlier. The UK Secretary of State for Transport also confirmed the resolution. However, airport officials warned that knock-on delays would likely persist into Tuesday. Airline operators expressed frustration over the repeated system failures, with easyJet stating the incident "once again calls into question the resilience" of the service, while Wizz Air cited a "national confidence crisis" in NATS.
Sources: BBC News, Cyprus Mail, STV News, The Guardian, The Scotsman
How outlets assessed this
- Sep 21, 2026, 03:00 PM UTC
- BBC News Critical Emphasised sharp backlash from major airlines questioning NATS operational resilience after consecutive technical failures.
- The Scotsman Neutral Focused on passenger disruption and NATS assurances that the glitch was unrelated to earlier software issues.
Sources
- The Guardian — Air traffic control failure ‘fixed’ after flight disruption in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England – business live
- Cyprus Mail — Delays at some UK airports due to latest air traffic control failure
- The Scotsman — Flights in Scotland disrupted due to 'technical issue' at air traffic control centre
- STV News — Flights disrupted across Scotland due to air traffic control issue
- BBC News — Airlines criticise air traffic control as second glitch causes more disruption in UK