NATS said the technical problem affected its flight data processing systemBy Tuesday evening, the air traffic control provider said the fault had been resolved and normal operations had resumed.
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Air travel across Britain was hit by widespread disruption on Tuesday after a technical problem with the country’s air traffic control system caused delays, cancellations and diversions at several major airportsThe disruption affected airports including London Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted, leaving thousands of passengers facing changed or cancelled travel plansMore than 600 flights were cancelled on Tuesday, while several others were delayed or diverted after the technical issue affected the operations of Britain’s air traffic control provider, NATS.
Air India warns passengers of delays
The disruption also affected flights operated by Air India to and from the UKIn a post on X, the airline said several of its services had been delayed, cancelled or diverted because of the technical problem at NATS.
Air India warned that the disruption could have a knock-on effect on other flights as aircraft and crew members were left out of positionThe airline advised passengers to check their flight status before heading to the airport and said it was closely monitoring the situation to limit further disruption.
Air India also apologised to passengers for the inconvenience, saying the situation was beyond its control.
Flights operating to and from airports in the United Kingdom have been impacted by a technical fault at NATS, the UK air traffic control providerAs a result, Air India has been forced to divert, delay or cancel multiple flights scheduled to operate to and from…
— Air India (@airindia) September 8, 2026
British airways cancels over 100 flights
British Airways was among the carriers badly affected by the disruptionThe airline said it had to cancel or divert more than 100 flights on Tuesday afternoon, affecting tens of thousands of travellers.
Although NATS later confirmed that its air traffic control system had been restored, British Airways warned that the scale of the disruption would continue to affect passengers and staff for some time.
The airline described the incident as extremely frustrating and said it was outside its control.
Passengers whose flights had been cancelled were advised not to travel to the airportBritish Airways also said customers could move their flights free of charge until September 11 if they no longer wanted to travel on Tuesday or Wednesday.
NATS says system fault has been fixed
NATS said the technical problem affected its flight data processing systemBy Tuesday evening, the air traffic control provider said the fault had been resolved and normal operations had resumedHowever, it warned that clearing the backlog of flights would take some time.
NATS said recovery from the disruption had taken longer than expected and that teams were working to restore the flight schedule as quickly as possible.
While the system was back in operation, passengers were likely to continue experiencing delays as airlines worked to reposition aircraft and crews and clear the backlog created by the outage.
