The UK government has given National Air Traffic Services (NATS) one week to investigate a major systems failure that disrupted flights across the country and left hundreds of thousands of passengers facing delays, cancellations and diversions.
The outage, which occurred on Tuesday, September 8, affected major airports and resulted in around 2,000 flight cancellations, with disruption continuing into Wednesday as airlines worked to reposition aircraft and crews.
Government Demands Answers
Transport Minister Heidi Alexander summoned NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe to explain what caused the failure and has demanded a full investigation within seven days.
The government has described the disruption as unacceptable and said lessons must be learned to prevent a repeat of the incident. Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government has also backed an independent review by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which is expected to examine the resilience of Britain’s air traffic control infrastructure.
Cyberattack Ruled Out
NATS has said the disruption was caused by a technical problem affecting its flight-processing systems. Rolfe said a cyberattack had been ruled out.
Although the system was restored, the effects continued as aircraft and crews were left in the wrong locations, creating a backlog across the aviation network. Heathrow, Gatwick and other major airports warned passengers to expect continuing delays and cancellations.
Airlines Demand Greater Reliability
The incident has renewed criticism of NATS, particularly because it follows previous major failures, including a 2023 outage that caused widespread disruption.
Airlines including Ryanair have called for greater accountability and questioned the reliability of the UK’s air traffic infrastructure. Ryanair has also renewed calls for Rolfe to step down following repeated disruption.
The government investigation is expected to determine the precise cause of the latest failure and identify measures needed to strengthen the UK’s aviation systems and reduce the risk of another nationwide disruption.
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