UK airport delay live: Ryanair calls for Nats air traffic control chief to resign after more flights disrupted

Delayed passengers turn to social media to voice annoyance over disruption

As many people on flights today arrived at airports to find cancellations and delays, someturned to social media to voice their annoyance over the situation.

Earlier, Nats apologised for disruption caused by the "issue" at its Prestwick centre in Scotland, which has now been fixed.

Among those disrupted was Kate License, who said on Facebook it was her birthday today, and that her 40-minute flight had been delayed by 10 hours.

Michael Scannell said his 9am flight from Glasgow Airport had been delayed by 12 hours. A Celtic supporter, likely unhappy over his side's loss to Rangers at the weekend, he joked: “Celtic board now managing air traffic control."

Also at Glasgow Airport, Janine West wrote: "Couldn't make it up, flight delayed until 8pm tonight."

Paul Edwards, due to fly to Cardiff Airport from Malaga today, wrote: "Delayed flight yuk."

Alex Ross21 September 2026 12:06

Tice calls for embattled Nats boss to quit

Richard Tice has joined calls for the Nats boss to resign after another technical issue caused chaos at several airports on Monday.

The deputy leader of Reform UK told The Telegraph: “This is yet another chaotic shambles by Nats. The chief executive must resign immediately and the chairman needs to explain themselves to Parliament.

“We need confirmation whether these are possibly caused by hacks, which clearly represent a national security issue.”

Harriette Boucher21 September 2026 11:57

Domestic flights disrupted at Luton

Luton Airport said domestic flights had been disrupted by the air traffic control 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.

“Passengers are advised to check with their airline before travelling to the airport. We will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.”

Harriette Boucher21 September 2026 11:39

Passengers and airlines 'deserve better', says industry boss

Passengers and airlines “deserve better”, an aviation industry body has said after the second air traffic control issue within two weeks.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said: “Yet another Nats failure is causing delays and disruption for passengers and airlines alike, and comes just days after its report into the most recent major outage.

“The UK’s ATC (air traffic control) system is critical national infrastructure and it must be resilient enough to keep people moving.

“Passengers and airlines deserve better and the independent CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) report, together with the forthcoming Civil Aviation Bill, must address the underlying weaknesses in the system so that these failures stop happening.”

Harriette Boucher21 September 2026 11:35

Dozens of flights cancelled as airlines warn of further disruption

Some 35 flights have been cancelled on Monday amid the disruption caused by Nats’ technical failure.

At 10.30am, four flights departing or arriving at Manchester Airport had been cancelled, five at Glasgow Airport, and three at Belfast Airport.

Easyjet is the most impacted airline so far, data from Cirium shows.

Of 670 scheduled Easyjet departures today from the UK, 29 are cancelled.

Airlines have warned of further disruption due to the knock-on impact of the delays.

Harriette Boucher21 September 2026 11:31

Nats said reoccurrence of technical issue causing disruption earlier this month was 'unlikely'

It was less than a month ago when airlines were brought to a halt across the UK by a technical issue caused by a software defect in a the National Airspace System, which manages UK airspace.

More than 2,000 flights were cancelled by the problem on 8 September, which cost the aviation industry an estimated £70m.

It was the result of a fault in the software that allocates codes to individual aircraft, and was not related to an outage in 2023 which also caused mass disruption.

In a preliminary report, published on Friday, Nats said on the incident earlier this month: "We now understand the events that caused the issue and an additional engineering framework is in place.... In the unlikely event of reoccurrence, a faster recovery can now be implemented to restore service and reduce the duration of system instability, minimising operational disruption and improving overall resilience."

This had been picked up on today by Ryanair chief operations officer Neal McMahon, who has again called for Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe to step down.

Mr McMahon said: “Martin Rolfe's report claimed that another failure was 'unlikely' and that NATS could recover more quickly if one occurred. Those claims have been exposed as completely worthless. Just three days later, passengers are once again suffering lengthy delays because NATS has failed to deliver either a reliable system or an effective back-up."

Alex Ross21 September 2026 11:24

Ryanair demands Nats chief executive resigns

Ryanair has demanded the resignation of Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of Nats, as passengers suffer further disruption today.

Chief operations officer Neal McMahon has hit out at Mr Rolfe, saying he must be “replaced by somebody competent” and be sacked if he fails to resign.

He said:"Just three days after NATS assured airlines and passengers that it had introduced a robust 'mitigation plans', its flight data processing system has failed again. More than 25,000 Ryanair passengers have already suffered disruption, with over 140 Ryanair flights delayed, yet NATS still cannot tell passengers when this disruption will end.

“Martin Rolfe's report claimed that another failure was 'unlikely' and that NATS could recover more quickly if one occurred. Those claims have been exposed as completely worthless. Just three days later, passengers are once again suffering lengthy delays because NATS has failed to deliver either a reliable system or an effective back-up.

“After the August 2023 collapse, Martin Rolfe assured Parliament that it was a 'once-in-a-lifetime event'. Then NATS collapsed again on 8 Sept, disrupting more than 2,000 flights. Now, just 13 days later, the same flight data processing system has failed once more. How many times must UK passengers suffer disruption before Martin Rolfe is replaced by somebody competent?

“Another review, another report and another round of empty promises will not fix NATS. Martin Rolfe has presided over repeated system failures, repeated passenger disruption and repeated failures to deliver an effective back-up system. Enough is enough.

“Martin Rolfe should resign today. If he will not, then Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander should fire him and appoint somebody capable of delivering the resilient ATC service that UK passengers and airlines deserve.”

Harriette Boucher21 September 2026 11:11

Cancelled or delayed flights: What are my rights to a refund?

Harriette Boucher21 September 2026 10:55

Glasgow Airport tells passengers to brace for further disruption

The air traffic control technical issue is causing delays at Glasgow Airport, its owners have said.

AGS Airports, which also owns Aberdeen and Southampton airports, said further disruption is expected due to the knock-on impact of the delays.

An AGS spokesperson said: “A technical issue affecting Nats air traffic control services at the Prestwick centre is causing disruption to some flight departures and arrivals.

“As a result, some services operating to and from our airports are experiencing delays, primarily at Glasgow Airport, and further disruption is expected due to the knock-on impact across the network.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused to passengers.

“This is the second time in as many weeks that a Nats technical issue has had a significant impact on services operating through our airports and we fully appreciate the frustration this will cause those whose travel plans have been disrupted.

“We advise passengers to check with their airline for the latest flight information before travelling.”

Harriette Boucher21 September 2026 10:50

Jet2 demands action after 'another major failure'

Jet2 has demanded urgent action following Nats’ “major” failure this morning.

Chief executive Steve Heapy said it is “unacceptable that airlines and customers are left to pick up the pieces when these recurring failures happen.

“Make no mistake, we are counting the cost of this disruption and will be sending another bill to NATS.”

He added: “Once again, airlines and customers are being disrupted by yet another NATS issue, and one has to ask: how many more failures do customers and airlines have to deal with? This morning’s disruption comes days after NATS published a report into its latest major failure, and it is simply not good enough for this critical national infrastructure to keep letting customers down.

“Customers work hard to look forward to their holidays, and airlines work hard to deliver those holidays. They should not be repeatedly exposed to delays and disruption because the UK’s air traffic control systems cannot be relied upon.”

Jet2 has called for Nats and the government to set out the immediate steps being taken to improve system resilience and reduce the risk of further failures, it said.

Mr Heapy added: “There have been too many incidents, too many reports and too many promises of lessons being learned. What customers and airlines need now is action, accountability and proper resilience, and we need it urgently.

“Our teams will do what they always do in these situations, which is continue to do everything possible to look after customers and recover operations.”

Harriette Boucher21 September 2026 10:47