Airports across the UK are warning of continued disruption today, Wednesday 9 September 2026, after a major technical failure within the National Air Traffic Services (Nats) flight processing system. The issue, which began at approximately 1pm on Tuesday, led to the grounding of over 1,000 flights to and from the UK.
Nats reported that engineers identified and fixed the problem about four hours after the disruption started. However, the backlog of flights is expected to cause ongoing delays and cancellations into Wednesday.
Around 1,300 flights to and from UK airports were cancelled on Tuesday. A further 279 cancellations were recorded early on Wednesday at Heathrow and Gatwick. Airports affected include Heathrow, Gatwick, London City, London Southend, London Stansted, Edinburgh, Bristol, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Southampton, Jersey, Manchester, East Midlands, Birmingham, Belfast City, and Liverpool John Lennon.
The chief executive of Nats, Martin Rolfe, stated the disruption was caused by an issue with Nats’ flight data processing system. The cause of the fault is currently under investigation.