A connectivity fault at Nats' Prestwick air traffic control centre on Sept. 21 disrupted at least 140 flights across northern parts of the UK and as far south as Gatwick. Nats said the issue was fixed by about 10:30 a.m., but knock-on delays continued at several airports. The outage renewed criticism of Nats after a major Sept. 8 failure that canceled over 2,000 flights. Ryanair demanded the sacking of Nats' CEO, and the Transport Secretary called the disruption "completely unacceptable."
Prestwick Connectivity Fault Delays 140+ Flights, Renewing Scrutiny of Nats
A technical glitch at the Britain's second largest air traffic control center on Scotland's west coast on Monday forced cancelations and delays affecting hundreds of flights and tens of thousands of passengers. File photo by Andy Rain/EPA-EFE
Sept. 21 — A technical fault at the Prestwick air traffic control centre on Scotland's west coast forced dozens of cancellations and long delays on Monday, affecting at least 140 inbound and outbound flights across Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England and as far south as Gatwick.
What Happened
National Air Traffic Services (Nats) said the problem, caused by a connectivity issue in part of its systems network, required restrictions on flight movements to maintain safety and comply with air traffic regulations. The fault was resolved at about 10:30 a.m. local time, but knock-on delays continued to affect operations at airports including Luton, Gatwick and London City.
Impact And Wider Consequences
Carriers including British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair reported disrupted schedules. Aviation analysts at Cirium warned that operational performance could deteriorate further during the day because of cascading delays. Passengers faced cancellations and long waits while airlines and airports worked to restore normal traffic flow.
Reactions
"The issue in our Prestwick centre is now fixed. We are working with airports and airlines to safely lift air traffic regulations as quickly as we can to minimise any further disruption. Passengers should still check the status of their flight with their airline. We apologise for the disruption," said a Nats spokesperson.
Criticism mounted because the outage came shortly after a major Nats failure on Sept. 8 that disrupted the country's busiest airports — including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted — and led to more than 2,000 cancellations and tens of thousands of delayed passenger journeys. That earlier incident affected Nats' main control facility on England's south coast between Southampton and Portsmouth.
"Just three days after Nats assured airlines and passengers that it had introduced robust 'mitigation plans,' its flight data processing system has failed again. More than 25,000 Ryanair passengers have already suffered disruption, with over 140 Ryanair flights delayed," said Ryanair Chief Operations Officer Neal McMahon, who called for Nats' chief executive Martin Rolfe to be sacked.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander described Monday's disruption as "completely unacceptable."
Advice For Passengers
Passengers are advised to check the status of their flights with their airlines and allow extra time for travel to airports as airlines and Nats work to recover schedules. Further updates are expected as normal traffic patterns are restored.
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