Technical fault in Nats systems blocks flights in the United Kingdom, over 600 cancellations

A technical failure in the flight plan processing systems of Nats, the British air traffic control agency, paralyzed departures at several airports in the United Kingdom, from Heathrow and Gatwick to Manchester, Edinburgh and Birmingham. Over 600 flights cancelled, with repercussions also on international airports such as Dublin and Paris. Tens of thousands of passengers affected in the midst of late summer travel. In the late afternoon the system was restarted, but the inconveniences continued

A technical failure in the systems of Nats, the British air traffic control authority, blocked departures from numerous airports in the United Kingdom, causing the cancellation of over 600 flights and severe inconvenience for passengers. The malfunction affected the flight plan processing system, making large-scale takeoffs impossible: the London airports of Heathrow and Gatwick were involved, but also those of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Southend, the Isle of Man and Jersey. The consequences also extended to international airports, including Dublin and Paris.

Un guasto che si ripete

The blockade brings the UK back to a situation it has seen before. The Nats engineers intervened to resolve the IT problem as quickly as possible: at the moment the malfunction is not traced back to a hacker attack nor to the hypotheses of Russian hybrid warfare which have recently returned to the center of the debate in Europe against the backdrop of the conflict in Ukraine. The organisation, which has already come under fire for similar episodes, apologized for the inconvenience and announced a gradual return to normality. The system was restarted in the late afternoon, but in the evening the repercussions continued to be felt.

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I passeggeri coinvolti

The effects reached tens of thousands of travelers in the midst of late summer travel: low-cost Ryanair alone counted over 65 thousand, many of them Italian. Transport Minister Heidi Alexander said she was aware of the situation and understood the frustration of those involved. Among the testimonies collected by the British media, Phil White told the BBC that he remained stopped for hours on the Gatwick runway, on board a plane headed for Lanzarote: "They told us that the radar is out of order and we can't take off", he reported, adding that the pilot intervened every twenty minutes to update the passengers.

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The Arsenal case and the amazement of the pilots

The chaos also affected sport. Arsenal's flight to Naples, where the Gunners are expected tomorrow for a Champions League match, was delayed. Surprise even among the flight staff: a commander stuck on the ground on a connection to New York told the British media that he had never seen anything like it at Heathrow in his entire career.

Le critiche al Nats

The reaction of the companies was clear. In a statement relaunched by Sky News, Wizz Air and Ryanair pointed the finger at the entity: a supplier of critical national infrastructures, they argue, should not repeatedly crash the aeronautical system, judged in its current form not up to the task. On the institutional front, the UK Civil Aviation Authority has asked the Nats for a full report on the incident, to be shared with the regulator.

The precedents

It is not the first time that the British airport system has gone into crisis. In July last year, still in full holiday season, takeoffs and landings were temporarily blocked in the country's main airports. In March 2025, however, a fire in an electricity substation in North Hyde, London, caused a blackout that paralyzed Heathrow for eighteen hours, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded.