A technical fault at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) Swanwick centre on 9 Sept 2026 forced the cancellation of at least 1,477 flights across the United Kingdom over Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Euronews. The combined figure – 1,300 flights on Tuesday and 177 on Wednesday – makes it the biggest two‑day outage since the 2023 air‑systems failure that disrupted more than 700,000 passengers.
Glitch and immediate impact
Flight‑tracking website FlightRadar24 recorded about 1,300 flights to and from UK airports cancelled on Tuesday, 9 Sept. The following day the service logged a further 177 flights already axed, most of them at Heathrow Airport. NATS confirmed it was still working to resolve the “system issue” late on Tuesday, while Heathrow announced that departures had resumed after a brief suspension of arrivals.
| Day | Cancellations | Unit | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | 1,300 | flights | 9 Sept 2026 |
| Wednesday | 177 | flights | 10 Sept 2026 |
| Combined | 1,477 | flights | 9‑10 Sept 2026 |
| Source: Euronews – UK airports face more disruption after air traffic control glitch with 250 flights axed | |||
Airlines react
British Airways said it was forced to cancel or divert more than 100 flights, affecting tens of thousands of its customers. Ryanair’s chief operating officer Neal McMahon used the incident to repeat his call for NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe to be removed, accusing the regulator of “failed UK travellers”. Both carriers warned that the knock‑on effect could linger as aircraft are re‑routed and crew schedules are disrupted.
Political and public response
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander posted on X that she was “seeking assurances that lessons will be learned and systems that support aviation are up to the job”. The comment reflects mounting political pressure on NATS leadership as the outage continues to affect business travel and holiday plans.
Among the passengers speaking to Euronews, healthcare worker Josie Donoghue described the cancellations as adding stress for essential workers who rely on timely travel. Her comment underscores the broader societal impact beyond commercial loss.
What remains unknown
- The precise cause of the technical fault at Swanwick has not been disclosed beyond a generic “system issue”.
- Exact numbers of passengers affected on each day have not been released; the 2023 outage figure of >700,000 passengers provides only a historical benchmark.
- How long it will take for airlines to fully normalise schedules and for NATS to implement any remedial measures is still unclear.
What is clear is that the 1,477‑flight cancellation total eclipses the earlier network coverage, which focused on a 2,000‑plus flight figure but did not break the disruption down by day or provide a fresh passenger voice. The new data gives UK business readers a concrete sense of the scale of the outage and the immediate operational challenges facing airlines and airports.
Stakeholders will be watching NATS’s next update closely, as any further cancellations could compound the economic cost of the disruption and fuel additional calls for leadership change.