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Evening Standard
· collected 2026-09-21 · by Michael Howie and Tom Place
A technical issue at an air traffic control center in Prestwick, Scotland, led to cancellations and delays for UK flights on Monday morning. National Air Traffic Services (NATS) reported disruptions mainly affecting flights between London and cities in northern England and Scotland. Ryanair estimated over 25,000 passengers would be impacted, while EasyJet criticized NATS' system resilience following a similar incident two weeks prior.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-21,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
On Monday, Nats, Britain's air traffic control provider, faced renewed criticism after a "connectivity issue" at its Prestwick center in Scotland caused delays and disruptions to flights across Scotland and northern England. This incident is the second major disruption within two weeks, following a software fault on September 8 that canceled over 2,000 flights and affected hundreds of thousands of passengers.
Ryanair estimated that more than 25,000 of its passengers were impacted by Monday's delays, with around 140 flights delayed. The company's chief operations officer, Neal McMahon, called for the resignation of Nats CEO Martin Rolfe, accusing him of presiding over repeated system failures and passenger disruption.
EasyJet also criticized the resilience of Nats' systems, stating that the latest incident "calls into question" their reliability. Meanwhile, Airlines UK CEO Tim Alderslade emphasized the need for ATC infrastructure to be resilient enough to keep people moving, calling the recent failure a significant issue affecting both passengers and airlines.
Despite growing calls for Rolfe's resignation, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did not publicly back Rolfe but stated that it was initially up to the Transport Secretary to investigate the cause of these recurring issues.
Written for “Air Traffic Control Issues” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 11 other(s) covering the same event.
Dozens of UK flights have been cancelled because of a “technical issue” at an air traffic control centre.
asserted
Dozens → cancel → centre
National Air Traffic Services (NATS) announced on Monday morning that a “technical issue” at its centre in Prestwick, Scotland, was causing disruption.
asserted
issue → announce → disruption
A number of flights between London and cities in Scotland and northern England have been cancelled.
asserted
number → cancel → Scotland
A spokesman said: “Our engineers are continuing to investigate the issue at our Prestwick centre in Scotland.
“Airports south of Manchester are broadly unaffected, however flights heading north and flights departing Scottish airports are currently subject to some delay.
asserted
flights → say → delay
“Passengers should check with their airlines.
asserted
Passengers → check → airlines
We apologise for the disruption.”
asserted
We → apologise → disruption
In an update shortly before 11am, NATS said the issue had been fixed.
asserted
issue → say → 11
It said: “We are working with airports and airlines to safely lift air traffic regulations as quickly as we can to minimise any further disruption.
“Passengers should still check the status of their flight with their airline.
asserted
Passengers → say → airline
“We apologise for the disruption.”
asserted
We → apologise → disruption
Heathrow was the worst-affected airport, with disruption taking days to resolve because of the number of planes and crew left out of place.
asserted
disruption → affect → place
The latest failure has caused a number of flights between London and Scotland and the north of England to be cancelled or delayed.
asserted
number → cause → England
Ryanair has said more than 25,000 of its passengers are expected to be disrupted.
asserted
25,000 → say → passengers
EasyJet has said the latest flight disruption “calls into question the resilience of NATS’ systems” after two air traffic control problems within one month.
asserted
disruption → say → month
The airline said in a statement: “A NATS air traffic control system failure in its Prestwick centre is causing delays to flights with some unable to operate.
asserted
failure → say → some
“This, once again, calls into question the resilience of NATS’ systems and demonstrates the need for firm actions to prevent these repeated failures.
asserted
This → call → failures
“We will do all we can minimise the impact of this for our customers and advise anyone due to fly today to check our flight tracker for the latest information.”
asserted
we → do → information
Luton Airport said domestic flights had been disrupted by the air traffic control issue.
asserted
flights → say → issue
A statement said: “The air traffic control system operated by NATS at its Prestwick centre is experiencing a technical issue which is impacting flights across the UK including a number of domestic flights to/from London Luton Airport.
asserted
which → say → Airport
“Passengers are advised to check with their airline before travelling to the airport.
asserted
Passengers → advise → airport
We will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.”
asserted
information → continue → updates
Heathrow
2.15pm - London Heathrow to Newcastle - British Airways - Cancelled
3.20pm - London Heathrow to Glasgow - British Airways - Cancelled
4.05pm - London Heathrow to Aberdeen - British Airways - Cancelled
2.55pm - Glasgow to London Heathrow - British Airways - Cancelled
5.35pm - Newcastle to London Heathrow - British Airways - Cancelled
8.00pm - Aberdeen to London Heathrow - British Airways - Cancelled
Stansted
11.20am - Edinburgh to London Stansted - easyJet - Cancelled
11.50am - London Stansted to Edinburgh - easyJet - Cancelled
London City
12.10pm - Edinburgh to London City - British Airways - Cancelled
6.15pm - Isle of Man to London City - Loganair - Cancelled
6.45pm - London City to Isle of Man - Loganair - Cancelled
asserted
Loganair → cancel → Man
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