Air Traffic Disruption: Airlines Express Deep Disappointment as Cancellations Leave Passengers Stranded
The UK government is expressing concern over the economic, reputational, and emotional harm caused by the recent air traffic control disruptions, particularly at London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports. Thousands of airline passengers have been affected, with some flights cancelled and delays extending to 20 hours for some European travellers.
On Wednesday, a technical issue at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) Swanwick air traffic control centre limited the number of aircraft flying in the London control area. As a result, British Airways cancelled a number of flights to Heathrow, while easyJet rebooked disrupted passengers on alternative flights due to multiple cancellations at Gatwick.
This disruption was part of a pattern involving IT and software issues impacting UK air traffic control in recent years. In late 2023, a similar failure occurred when NATS’ processing of flight plans was compromised, leading to manual handling and widespread delays affecting around 700,000 passengers during the summer peak. Despite NATS swiftly addressing these outages, the effects cascade, causing backlogs and prolonged delays across multiple major airports.
The latest air traffic control issue did not reach the scale of the Nats August bank holiday failure in 2023. However, it has prompted calls for improved resilience of the air traffic control IT systems. Ryanair's chief operating officer, Neal McMahon, stated that repeated failures suggest that Nats does not have the necessary resilience for critical national infrastructure.
Gatwick, the planet's busiest single runway airport, and Heathrow, the world's busiest two-runway airport, are particularly susceptible to disruption. Heathrow, where British Airways holds more than half the slots, has been severely affected by diversions and cancellations.
EasyJet expressed its disappointment with another failure of air traffic control, stating, "We are extremely disappointed with another failure of air traffic control." Passengers whose flights are cancelled are entitled to be flown to their destination as soon as possible and provided with hotel accommodation until they can get there.
The fault was fixed within 40 minutes, but disruption continued into Thursday, with at least 15 more cancellations of flights to and from London's airports. The UK government, led by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, is actively seeking answers to prevent recurrence and ensure the safety and efficiency of UK air travel.
[1] BBC News. (2023). Gatwick Airport flights affected by 'IT failure'. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-61965565 [2] The Guardian. (2025). Air traffic control failure causes chaos at UK airports. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/30/air-traffic-control-failure-causes-chaos-at-uk-airports [3] Sky News. (2025). Ryanair calls for Nats boss to resign over air traffic control chaos. [online] Available at: https://news.sky.com/story/ryanair-calls-for-nats-boss-to-resign-over-air-traffic-control-chaos-12672789 [4] The Independent. (2025). Air traffic control chaos: What we know so far. [online] Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/air-traffic-control-chaos-what-we-know-so-far-b9226166.html
[1] The recent air traffic control disruptions, as seen in the BBC News story, have raised concerns about the economic, reputational, and emotional impact on travelers, as well as the general-news implications of the ongoing IT issues affecting UK airports.
[2] As EasyJet's disappointment with the air traffic control failures suggests, the lifestyle of thousands of passengers is significantly disrupted, with plans and expectations for travel unable to be met due to the recurring issues.
