(../../../../favicon_aje.ico) UK travellers face fresh chaos as more flights cancelled after glitch | Aviation News | Al Jazeera    (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/8/hundreds-of-flights-delayed-cancelled-after-uk-air-traffic-control-glitch)                                               (https://www.aljazeera.com/xml/rss/all.xml)  (https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2026/9/8/hundreds-of-flights-delayed-cancelled-after-uk-air-traffic-control-glitch)  (https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/getty_6a0f3746f3-1779382087.jpg?resize=1920%2C1440)  (../../../../wp-content/uploads/2026/05/getty_6a0f3746f3-1779382087.jpg@resize=770,513&quality=80)     (https://cdn.cookielaw.org) (https://cdn.cookielaw.org) (https://cdn.cookielaw.org) (https://cdn.cookielaw.org/scripttemplates/otSDKStub.js) (https://www.google-analytics.com) (https://www.google-analytics.com) (https://www.google-analytics.com) (https://static.chartbeat.com/) (https://static.chartbeat.com/) (https://static.chartbeat.com/) (../../../../static/css/vendor~main~d08ff9cb.24bf1742.r2.chunk.css) (../../../../static/css/component~main~748942c6.6c6e15fe.r2.chunk.css) (../../../../static/css/component~main~b07b7304.e3bc53a0.r2.chunk.css) (../../../../static/css/component~main~6e6dca10.74fd263a.r2.chunk.css) (../../../../static/css/component~main~5db14389.c7afea12.r2.chunk.css) (../../../../static/media/Roboto-Bold.52bb58c8.woff2) (../../../../static/media/Roboto-Regular.c5bf51b6.woff2)  (../../../../static/css/vendor~aje/containers/home-page~components/video-article/videoPageDispatcher~containers/amp-live-blo~5f903362.2e08e417.r2.chunk.css)  (../../../../static/css/component~aje/containers/home-page~components/video-article/videoPageDispatcher~containers/amp-live-~41c72a2c.3f309873.r2.chunk.css)  (../../../../static/css/component~aje/containers/home-page~components/video-article/videoPageDispatcher~containers/amp-live-~06be7c11.0625e98d.r2.chunk.css)  (../../../../static/css/common~493df0b3.ec3ab9b5.r2.chunk.css)  (../../../../static/css/pages/article-page~493df0b3.accd71c7.r2.chunk.css)  (../../../../static/css/common~493df0b3.ec3ab9b5.r2.chunk.css)   Skip links (hundreds-of-flights-delayed-cancelled-after-uk-air-traffic-control-glitch@traffic_source=rss.html#main-content-area) Skip to Content  (https://www.aljazeera.com/)          (https://www.aljazeera.com/video/live) play    Live    Sign up  Show navigation menu     Navigation menu (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/) News    Show more news sections  (https://www.aljazeera.com/africa/) Africa   (https://www.aljazeera.com/asia/) Asia   (https://www.aljazeera.com/us-canada/) US & Canada   (https://www.aljazeera.com/latin-america/) Latin America   (https://www.aljazeera.com/europe/) Europe   (https://www.aljazeera.com/asia-pacific/) Asia Pacific      (https://www.aljazeera.com/middle-east/) Middle East   (https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/explainer/) Explained   (https://www.aljazeera.com/sports) Sport   (https://www.aljazeera.com/opinion/) Opinion   (https://www.aljazeera.com/videos/) Video   More   Show more sections  (https://www.aljazeera.com/features/) Features   (https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/) Economy   (https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/human-rights/) Human Rights   (https://www.aljazeera.com/climate-crisis) Climate Crisis   (https://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/) Investigations   (https://www.aljazeera.com/interactives/) Interactives   (https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/) In Pictures   (https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/science-and-technology/) Science & Technology   (https://www.aljazeera.com/audio/podcasts) Podcasts   (https://www.aljazeera.com/travel) Travel   (https://www.aljazeera.com/sponsored/) Sponsored Content        (https://www.aljazeera.com/video/live) play    Live    Click here to search search     Sign up        (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/) News |(https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/aviation/) Aviation   UK travellers face fresh chaos as more flights cancelled after glitch Air traffic control provider NATS under scrutiny after technical fault disrupts UK air traffic.   Listen   Listen (2 mins)       Save       Share UK travellers face fresh chaos as more flights cancelled after glitch on social media share-nodes    Share (https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Faje.news%2Fquke9a) facebook      (https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=UK%20travellers%20face%20fresh%20chaos%20as%20more%20flights%20cancelled%20after%20glitch&source=sharethiscom&related=sharethis&via=AJEnglish&url=https%3A%2F%2Faje.news%2Fquke9a) x    (whatsapp://send?text=https%3A%2F%2Faje.news%2Fquke9a) whatsapp-stroke    (https://aje.news/quke9a)  copylink          google       Add Al Jazeera on Google  info      (LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 01: Travellers wait in a long queue to pass through the security check at Heathrow on June 1, 2022 in London, England. The aviation industry is struggling to recruit staff after waves of layoffs during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the UK, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that airlines and operators have "seriously oversold flights and holidays" relative to their capacity to deliver as the country approaches the Jubilee holiday weekend. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images))   Travellers wait in a long queue to pass through the security check at Heathrow in London, England [File: Carl Court/Getty Images]   (https://www.aljazeera.com/author/al_jazeera_staff_150119130629458)     By  (https://www.aljazeera.com/author/al_jazeera_staff_150119130629458) Al Jazeera Staff , AFP, APand Reuters   Published On 8 Sep 2026 8 Sep 2026    UK travellers faced fresh travel chaos on Wednesday as more than 150 flights were scrapped nationwide, while air traffic control service scrambled to recover from a technical glitch at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS). According to aircraft tracking platform FlightRadar24, at least 177 flights scheduled for Wednesday have been cancelled already, in addition to more than 1,300 flight cancellations to and from UK airports the previous day. Recommended Stories list of 2 items list 1 of 2 (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/28/uk-air-traffic-issue-fixed-but-flights-remain-affected) UK air traffic issue fixed but flights remain affected  list 2 of 2 (https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2026/9/8/hundreds-of-uk-flights-disrupted-by-air-traffic-control-glitch) Hundreds of UK flights disrupted by air traffic control glitch   end of list  The IT malfunction on Tuesday happened three years after a flight-plan processing failure at NATS caused even more widespread disruption. Nearly all the latest affected flights were at Britain’s busiest airport Heathrow in London, FlightRadar24 wrote on X. NATS said it was still working to resolve disruption following a “system issue”. “This has been a very complex recovery and has created difficulties for the whole aviation network, from which it will take time to recover,” it said in an X post late on Tuesday.     In an earlier post, NATS apologised to frustrated passengers in departure halls across the UK and said a problem with its flight data processing system had been fixed. “Recovery from today’s system issue has taken longer than we had hoped. Our system issue is now resolved, we are operating normally and working as hard as possible to clear the backlog of flights,” it said. Cancellations and delays Airlines called for the resignation of Martin Rolfe, the CEO of NATS, questioned whether the UK’s air traffic control system was ⁠fit for purpose and urged the UK government to intervene. Advertisement    Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers had been affected by delays of up to eight hours and that it had cancelled more than 50 flights. In a video posted on X, Ryanair’s Chief Operations Officer Neal McMahon said “despite promises, reports and assurances that they would fix the systems, once again NATS, under Martin Rolfe’s leadership have failed UK travellers and have failed airlines which are trying to get their passengers to and from the UK”. Aviation analyst John Strickland said the consequences of even a relatively short outage can be severe because delays quickly cascade through tightly ⁠scheduled airline networks. “A few hours of outage may on the face of it sound limited but the impact ⁠is enormous when a substantial number of airports across the UK are affected,” Strickland said. Britain’s aviation regulator said it would expect NATS to share a full report on Tuesday’s system failure. The UK Civil Aviation Authority, the country’s independent aviation regulator, said it would then consider whether any reforms are needed to ‌secure the reliability of the UK’s air traffic control system.            aj-logo             aj-logo             aj-logo       Advertisement          About About   Show more  (https://www.aljazeera.com/about-us) About Us   (https://www.aljazeera.com/code-of-ethics/) Code of Ethics   (https://www.aljazeera.com/terms-and-conditions/) Terms and Conditions   (https://www.aljazeera.com/eu-eea-regulatory/) EU/EEA Regulatory Notice   (https://privacy.aljazeera.net/) Privacy Policy   (https://privacy.aljazeera.net/cookie/) Cookie Policy   (https://www.aljazeera.com/) Cookie Preferences    (https://trust.aljazeera.net/accessibility/) Accessibility Statement   (https://www.aljazeera.com/sitemap) Sitemap   (https://careers.aljazeera.net/) Work for us      Connect Connect   Show more  (https://network.aljazeera.net/en/contact?tid=6) Contact Us   (https://www.aljazeera.com/user-accounts-help) User Accounts Help   (https://commercial.aljazeera.net/) Advertise with us   (https://www.aljazeera.com/stay-connected) Stay Connected   (https://www.aljazeera.com/newsletters) Newsletters   (https://sat.aljazeera.net/en) Channel Finder   (https://www.aljazeera.com/schedule/) TV Schedule   (https://www.aljazeera.com/podcasts/) Podcasts   (https://webapps.aljazeera.net/aje/tips/) Submit a Tip   (https://www.aljazeera.com/sponsored) Paid Partner Content      Our Channels Our Channels   Show more  (http://aljazeera.net/) Al Jazeera Arabic   (https://www.aljazeera.com/) Al Jazeera English   (https://www.ajiunit.com/) Al Jazeera Investigative Unit   (https://www.aljazeeramubasher.net/) Al Jazeera Mubasher   (http://doc.aljazeera.net/) Al Jazeera Documentary   (http://balkans.aljazeera.net/) Al Jazeera Balkans   (http://ajplus.net/) AJ+      Our Network Our Network   Show more  (http://studies.aljazeera.net/en/) Al Jazeera Centre for Studies   (http://training.aljazeera.net/) Al Jazeera Media Institute   (http://learning.aljazeera.net/) Learn Arabic   (http://liberties.aljazeera.com/en) Al Jazeera Centre for Public Liberties & Human Rights   (http://forum.aljazeera.net/) Al Jazeera Forum   (https://hotels.aljazeera.net/en) Al Jazeera Hotel Partners        Follow Al Jazeera English: (https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera) facebook       (https://twitter.com/ajenglish) twitter     (https://www.youtube.com/aljazeeraenglish) youtube     (https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/?hl=en) instagram-colored-outline                          (https://www.aljazeera.com/xml/rss/all.xml) rss     (https://bsky.app/profile/aljazeera.com) bluesky     (https://www.tiktok.com/@aljazeeraenglish) tiktok-colored-outline                  (Al Jazeera Media Network logo)   © 2026 Al Jazeera Media Network