Technical glitch triggers UK flight chaos, over 120 cancellations

The glitch’s occurrence at the peak of the summer travel season drew sharp criticism from airline executives, with Ryanair’s COO Neal McMahon demanding NATS chief Martin Rolfe resign over repeated failures since the 2023 outage

Travel plans were thrown into disarray on Wednesday (July 31) as a technical fault at the UK’s air traffic control centre forced the cancellation of over 120 flights and led to widespread disruption at some of the country’s busiest airports.

The issue, which originated at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) control centre in Swanwick, southwest England, briefly limited the number of aircraft permitted in London’s airspace. NATS confirmed the fault around 4:00 p.m. local time and said operations were back to normal within an hour. However, the impact on air traffic lasted much longer.

Heathrow, Gatwick, and Edinburgh airports were among those affected, with a combined total of at least 67 departures and 55 arrivals cancelled by 7:30 p.m., according to data from aviation consultancy Cirium. Several other flights were diverted.

Glitch triggers industry backlash

The timing of the glitch, during the height of the summer holiday season, provoked anger among airline leaders. Ryanair’s Chief Operating Officer Neal McMahon sharply criticised NATS, demanding the resignation of CEO Martin Rolfe and accusing the agency of failing to learn from a major outage in 2023.

“It’s unacceptable that passengers are once again being caught up in unnecessary disruption,” McMahon said.

EasyJet also voiced frustration, with COO David Morgan calling the situation “extremely disappointing” and urging NATS to provide clarity on how similar failures would be prevented in the future.

The Department for Transport said it is liaising with NATS to determine the root cause of the glitch and evaluate the reliability of its current systems.

Despite the quick technical recovery, the incident rekindled concerns over the resilience of the UK’s air traffic infrastructure — particularly during peak travel periods.