More than 600 U.K. flights cancelled after air traffic control issue

9/8/2026

U.K. flight cancellations spike after air traffic control failure disrupts travel See which airports and airlines were hit, plus what the system fix means

More than 600 flights to and from the U.K. were cancelled on Tuesday after a technical problem disrupted Britain’s air traffic control system, according to flighttracking data and officials. National Air Traffic Services said it identified an issue in its flight processing system and engineers worked to restore service. The agency later said a fix had been put in place and the system was beginning to recover. The disruption affected major airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, City, Manchester, Birmingham and airports in Scotland. Airlines such as British Airways, EasyJet, KLM and Lufthansa were among those affected, while passengers reported long delays and limited communication before some flights were cancelled.