Nearly 300 More Flights Cancelled As UK Travel Chaos Enters Second Day

Nearly 300 More Flights Cancelled As UK Travel Chaos Enters Second Day Air travel disruption across the United Kingdom has entered a second day, with nearly 300 additional flights cancelled as airports and airlines struggle to clear the backlog caused by a major technical failure in the country’s air traffic control system. The disruption began on Tuesday after a technical problem affected the flight data processing system operated by NATS, the UK’s air traffic control provider. Although NATS said the system had been restored and that safety was never compromised, the failure triggered widespread delays and cancellations at major airports, leaving thousands of passengers facing disrupted journeys. Aviation analytics company Cirium estimated that around 2,000 flights to and from UK airports were affected across Tuesday and Wednesday, with approximately 30 per cent of scheduled departures grounded on Tuesday and a further five per cent affected on Wednesday. British Airways alone cancelled or diverted around 100 flights on Tuesday and cancelled another 190 flights on Wednesday as the effects of the disruption continued to ripple through its network. Ryanair also reported significant disruption, saying it had cancelled 260 flights and affected about 48,000 passengers. The airline estimated that the outage had already cost it around £3 million. Major airports including Heathrow and Gatwick warned passengers that disruption could continue even after the technical problem itself had been resolved.The airports advised travellers to check directly with their airlines before travelling to terminals, as aircraft and crew had to be repositioned and schedules adjusted following Tuesday’s disruption. The incident has also intensified criticism of NATS, with airlines questioning the reliability and resilience of Britain’s air traffic control infrastructure. Ryanair has called for NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign, describing the latest incident as a repeat of the major air traffic control failure that caused widespread chaos in 2023. Wizz Air has also called for urgent reform, arguing that airlines and passengers should not repeatedly bear the consequences of failures affecting critical national infrastructure. NATS, however, has rejected suggestions that the latest incident was the same as the 2023 failure. The organisation said the latest problem affected its flight data system at Swanwick and that a full investigation would be conducted to determine the root cause. Transport Minister Heidi Alexander has summoned NATS chief Martin Rolfe to explain what happened and to provide assurances about the reliability of Britain’s aviation systems. The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority has also requested a full report from NATS and said it would consider whether further measures are necessary to strengthen the reliability of the country’s air traffic control network.For passengers, however, the technical fault has translated into cancelled flights, long waits and uncertainty, with airlines warning that the knock-on effects could continue even after normal operations resume. Authorities and airlines are urging travellers to check their flight status before heading to the airport as recovery efforts continue.