A major technical failure at National Air Traffic Services (NATS) on 8th September 2026, caused widespread travel chaos across the UK. A system glitch at the Swanwick control center disrupted flight plan processing, forcing air traffic controllers to halt departures. The outage led to over 1,750 flight cancellations and affected more than 300,000 passengers across major airports, including London Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, and Stansted. Heathrow briefly halted incoming flights due to gate congestion.
Engineers fixed the issue within four hours, but knock-on delays persisted for days while airlines repositioned aircraft and crew. NATS ruled out a cyberattack, yet Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander ordered an independent review by the Civil Aviation Authority and demanded a full report within a week. Major airlines, including Ryanair and Wizz Air, condemned the outage, noting it was NATS's third major technical failure in three years.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8x3dp1zpxo
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