Over 100 flights cancelled after UK air traffic control glitch

Over 100 flights were on Wednesday cancelled affecting thousands of passengers after an air traffic control glitch led to more than 100 flights being delayed and cancelled.

A “technical issue” at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) centre in southern England led to flights being temporarily suspended at airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff and Edinburgh.

Despite the issue being resolved in 20 minutes, according to NATS, hours of chaos ensued. Throughout Wednesday afternoon and evening, they’ve heard from frustrated passengers across the country.

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One, 35-year-old John Carr, was travelling to Norway for his brother’s wedding when his flight was cancelled. He and a friend said there was “no warning” from the airport or their airline that it was being cancelled, describing the situation as “rubbish”, BBC reports.

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Others were trying to stay upbeat. David and his family, who were travelling from Crete to Birmingham but had their EasyJet plane diverted to Paris, said everyone on board was “in good spirits”.

Apologising to those affected, NATS said it was working with airlines to clear the backlog. A spokesperson subsequently told the BBC the issue was a radar one, and there was no evidence to suggest this was cyber-related.

As at yesterday, 67 departures and 55 arrivals are known to have been cancelled across UK airports, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.