Nationwide ATC failure causes flight chaos in UK; NATS CEO faces calls to resign 

A nationwide air traffic control failure caused significant flight delays and cancellations across the United Kingdom, sparking calls for the CEO of the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) to step down. 

On July 30, 2025, a “technical issue” at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) center, which is the main air traffic control provider in the UK, caused hundreds of flights to be canceled at major airports nationwide, including Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton, Newcastle, Manchester, and more. 

The outage was resolved within 20 minutes the same day it started. The reason for the air traffic control system glitch is currently unclear.  

A spokesperson told the BBC that there is no proof indicating the outage was cyber-related. NATS CEO Martin Rolfe called the outage “an isolated event” with “no evidence of malign activity.” 

On July 31, 2025, UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announced on X that all airports have resumed operations and added that NATS are “working closely with airlines and airports to clear the backlog safely and look after passengers.” 

“I will be meeting the NATS Chief Executive to understand what happened and how we can prevent reoccurrence,” Alexander said. 

The outage began at a NATS control center in Swanwick, Hampshire, which announced that a “technical issue” caused the center to quickly reduce the number of aircraft operating in the London control area. 

Brief outage leads to nationwide flight chaos 

Although the outage was brief it had a significant impact on air travel in the UK. 

On the day of the outage, London-Gatwick Airport (LGW) experienced 14 flight cancellations and 189 delays, while London-Heathrow Airport (LHR) had the most disruptions with 32 cancellations and 317 delayed flights. London-Luton Airport (LTN) saw three cancellations and 71 delays. 

Newcastle International Airport (NCL) had three cancellations and 20 delays, and Manchester Airport (MAN) reported three cancellations and 120 delayed flights, according to FlightAware data. 

NATS CEO faces resignation calls 

The head of the UK’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) is facing growing calls to resign following the widespread outage.  

British Airways announced it had to limit its inbound and outbound flights at Heathrow to 32 per hour until 19:15 local time, The Guardian reported. 

Meanwhile, Ryanair released a statement, demanding Rolfe’s resignation. The low-cost carrier claimed that the outage led to delays exceeding four hours for the airline and caused multiple flight diversions. 

“It is utterly unacceptable that passengers travelling to/from the UK are being subjected to needless air traffic control delays, once again caused by a NATS system failure. NATS must foot the bill and compensate airlines and passengers for this unnecessary disruption caused by Martin Rolfe’s continuous mismanagement,” Ryanair’s statement read. 

The outage resembles an incident from August 2023, when a NATS system failure affected more than 700,000 passengers, leading to significant delays and cancellations throughout UK airspace. The incident raised concerns about the reliability of the UK’s air traffic control system. The post Nationwide ATC failure causes flight chaos in UK; NATS CEO faces calls to resign  appeared first on AeroTime.

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