UK air traffic system hit again: 25,000 Ryanair passengers disrupted

London: Britain’s air traffic control provider suffered another technical failure on Monday, disrupting flights less than two weeks after a separate software problem contributed to more than 2,000 cancellations across the UK.

The latest fault affected the NATS air traffic control centre in Prestwick, Scotland, prompting restrictions on flights while engineers worked to resolve the problem.

NATS said the issue was subsequently fixed and stressed that it was unrelated to the September 8 failure.

Ryanair said more than 25,000 of its passengers were expected to be disrupted by Monday’s incident, with more than 140 of its flights delayed.

Other airlines and airports also reported disruption as restrictions affected traffic across parts of the UK.

NATS said it experienced a connectivity issue involving part of its systems network at its Prestwick centre.

Air traffic restrictions were imposed while engineers investigated and fixed the problem.

The restrictions reduced the number of aircraft that could enter affected airspace, allowing controllers to continue managing traffic safely.

NATS later confirmed the technical problem had been resolved and said it was working with airports and airlines to remove the remaining restrictions and minimise further disruption.

Passengers were advised to check directly with their airlines before travelling as knock-on delays could continue even after the fault was fixed.

The disruption particularly affected flights involving Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England.

Airports including Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester reported delays or cancellations, while disruption was also reported on services involving Belfast.

Because aircraft and crews operate across interconnected airline networks, problems at one part of the system can cause delays elsewhere even after air traffic restrictions are lifted.

Ryanair said more than 140 of its flights were delayed as a result of the failure and estimated that more than 25,000 of its passengers would be disrupted.

The 25,000 figure refers specifically to Ryanair passengers, rather than the total number of travellers affected across all airlines.

Monday’s disruption comes less than two weeks after a separate NATS technical failure caused widespread disruption across Britain.

On September 8, a software defect in the UK’s National Airspace System resulted in air traffic restrictions lasting around six hours.

The disruption contributed to more than 2,000 flight cancellations and affected hundreds of thousands of passengers.

A preliminary investigation by NATS found that the September 8 incident was triggered during a process that unfolded within a millisecond.

NATS stressed that Monday’s Prestwick problem was different.

The latest incident involved a connectivity issue affecting part of the system's network used for the Scottish operation, while the September 8 disruption involved a software defect.

NATS said Monday’s problem had “nothing to do with” the earlier failure.

The second technical disruption in less than two weeks prompted renewed criticism from airlines.

Ryanair called for NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign following the latest incident.

The airline said repeated technical failures were causing unacceptable disruption to passengers and called for changes at the air traffic control provider.

Other carriers also expressed frustration over the disruption and urged improvements to the resilience of Britain’s air traffic control infrastructure.

NATS apologised to passengers affected by Monday’s incident and said safety remained its priority while engineers worked to resolve the problem.

The latest failure comes just days after NATS published its preliminary findings into the September 8 incident and outlined mitigation measures introduced while a permanent software fix is developed and tested.