Breaking: UK Passengers Face Further ATC Disruption After Another NATS Outage

Published Sep 21, 2026, 5:01 AM EDT A graduate in German, Jake has a passion for history and regional aviation, and enjoys sampling new carriers and aircraft. He has visited OEM facilities as far and wide as Bristol, Toulouse, and Seattle, and recently enjoyed the milestone of flying his 150th sector as a passenger. Based in Norfolk, UK. * Last updated: Monday, September 21, 2026 at 05:30 AM EST by Jake Hardiman * Airports in the United Kingdom are once again being impacted by an air traffic control outage impacting National Air Traffic Services. Also known as NATS, this company looks after air traffic control in the country, and has come under fire in recent times for outages of varying scales. Now, a "technical issue" is once again causing disruption to passengers flying in and out of certain UK airports. The issue in question is specifically impacting NATS' Prestwick facility in Scotland. Correspondingly, Scottish and Northern Irish airports are being hit the hardest by today's outage. Still, the disruption has also spread south of the border, with airports in northern England such as Manchester (MAN) also beginning to report delays. Let's take a closer look at what has happened and how its impacts are being felt. The UK's Last ATC Outage Was Just Two Weeks Ago Monday, September 21, 2026, 05:30 AM Credit: Karl Weller | Shutterstock In recent years, ATC failures in the UK have unfortunately been an all-too-familiar story. Following a major outage in July 2025, such disruption reared its ugly head once again just two weeks ago, on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 8, 2026. This was a wider issue that also hit London airports, with more than 2,000 flights having to be cancelled as a result of this wider air traffic control system outage. In the aftermath of the failure, as major stakeholders looked for answers, a theory emerged that a military flight plan may have triggered the outage due to anomalous data. This, however, was denied by the Ministry of Defence, and it later emerged that a software defect lasting just a millisecond was the cause. While today's outage is not related, it has left airlines frustrated, with easyJet saying that: "This, once again, calls into question the resilience of NATS' systems and demonstrates the need for firm actions to prevent these repeated failures." What Are Airlines & Airports Saying? Monday, September 21, 2026, 05:25 AM Credit: Wirestock Creators | Shutterstock At Manchester Airport, which was initially thought to have been the southernmost tip of the disrupted area, delays of up to an hour are being reported, although no flights have yet been canceled as a result of the ATC outage. However, it seems the impacts may stretch further south. Indeed, the Manchester Airports Group also runs East Midlands Airport (EMA), which has also seen a handful of delays. The BBC notes that Belfast International (BFS) is also seeing delays but no cancelations, while advising flyers to check with their airlines for information regarding their flights. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for nearby Belfast City Airport (BHD), where some flights have had to be canceled. Elsewhere in Northern Ireland, City of Derry Airport (LDY) has seen cancelations to and from Glasgow (GLA). As far as airlines are concerned, the BBC quotes a spokesperson for Ryanair as having said that the carrier is aware of an "equipment failure" concerning ATC in the region. However, given that Ryanair, and particularly its Group CEO Martin O'Leary, has been outspoken in its criticism of NATS following recent failures, it would not be a surprise to see a more strongly worded statement released before long. Disruption To UK Airspace & Airports Monday, September 21, 2026, 05:10 AM Credit: Nigel J. Harris | Shutterstock As reported by the BBC, NATS confirmed in a statement that it is "investigating a technical issue at our Prestwick centre in Scotland." The firm has added that "engineers are on site investigating and working to resolve the issue." Meanwhile, however, it has had to apply air traffic regulations in order "to maintain safety (...) [and] manage traffic demand." As seen below, this has resulted in quieter airspace. It is important to note that this outage is somewhat regionalized, with Prestwick's Scottish location meaning that airports in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the north of England have been hit the hardest. On this front, NATS says that "airports south of Manchester are broadly unaffected, however, flights heading north and flights departing Scottish airports are currently subject to some delay." It adds: "Passengers should check with their airlines. This is unrelated to the issue two weeks ago. We apologise for the disruption."