Widespread travel disruption is continuing across the UK this morning as airlines struggle to recover from a major air traffic control system failure. Although the technical fault at NATS (National Air Traffic Services) was resolved on Tuesday evening, the knock-on effect has seen at least 177 flights cancelled today, Wednesday 9 September.
The failure, which occurred on Tuesday 8 September, led to approximately 1,300 flights being grounded across the country. For travellers in West Sussex, Gatwick Airport remains among the most heavily affected hubs, though the majority of today’s cancellations are concentrated at London Heathrow.
NATS, the provider responsible for managing the UK’s airspace, is headquartered at Swanwick in the neighbouring county of Hampshire. The organisation confirmed that the issue within its flight planning system had been identified and fixed by late Tuesday, but warned that the “complex recovery” would take time as aircraft and crews are currently out of position across Europe.
Passengers heading to Gatwick, Heathrow, or other UK airports are being strongly advised to check the live status of their flight with their airline before starting their journey to the terminal. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is expected to meet with NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe today to discuss the cause of the glitch, which represents the third significant technical outage involving the provider in three years.
Your rights to care and assistance
Under UK law, airlines have a legal duty to provide care and assistance to passengers when flights are significantly delayed or cancelled. If your flight is cancelled, the airline must offer you a choice between a full refund or being re-routed to your destination at the earliest opportunity.
While the airline is not usually required to pay cash compensation for “extraordinary circumstances” such as air traffic control failures, they must provide the following if your wait exceeds a specific timeframe (two hours for short-haul flights):
- Reasonable costs for food and drink.
- Means to communicate (often refunding the cost of essential phone calls).
- Hotel accommodation if an overnight stay is required.
- Transport between the airport and the hotel.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority advises passengers that if an airline is unable to arrange these services, travellers should keep itemised receipts for “reasonable” expenses to claim back later. Passengers should avoid luxury hotels or alcohol, as these are unlikely to be reimbursed.
The current disruption follows previous major NATS-related failures in August 2023 and July 2025, leading to renewed scrutiny of the UK’s aviation infrastructure and its resilience to technical faults.
