Flights disrupted again in Scotland and northern England by air traffic control 'technical issue'

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 04:53 EDT, 21 September 2026 | Updated: 05:04 EDT, 21 September 2026 Flights were disrupted across Scotland and northern England this morning because of a 'technical issue' at an air traffic control centre.A National Air Traffic Services (NATS) 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.'Passengers should check with their airlines. This is unrelated to the issue two weeks ago. We apologise for the disruption.'A London City Airport spokesman said: 'We are experiencing some disruption due to an issue at NATS Prestwick. We are monitoring the situation closely and working with NATS as they resolve the issue.'If you're travelling today, please check with your airline for the latest information on your flight. Our friendly LCY colleagues are in the terminal today as usual to help your journey run smoothly.'Highlands and Islands Airports Limited warned flights were being impacted across all the airports the company operates - including Dundee, Inverness and Islay.It said: 'Due to a technical issue at Prestwick, flight schedules are currently being impacted across all our airports. Please contact your airline for the latest flight information.'It comes two weeks after an air traffic control issue on September 8 led to more than 2,000 flights being cancelled at airports including London Heathrow and Gatwick. Passengers wait to take off on an easyJet flight this morning as services are delayed againA preliminary investigation by NATS found this was caused by a fault in the software that allocates codes to individual aircraft – and not by 'any incorrect actions'.The fault caused flights both in and out of the UK to be axed - impacting hundreds of thousands of passengers with disruption continuing into the following day.Under-fire Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe faced calls to resign and Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the disruption was 'completely unacceptable'.Last July, a 'radar-related issue' caused an air traffic control failure which disrupted thousands of passengers and forced the cancellation of more than 160 flights.In August 2023, more than 700,000 passengers suffered disruption when flights were grounded at UK airports due to a NATS technical glitch while processing a flight plan.More to follow