A connectivity glitch at Nats' Prestwick centre cancelled 170 UK flights, sparking industry backlash and demands for the CEO's resignation.
On a crisp September morning the National Air Traffic Services (Nats) announced a sudden connectivity issue at its Prestwick centre in Scotland. The fault forced the cancellation of more than 170 flights across the United Kingdom, adding to a wave of disruption that had already shaken the network earlier in the month.
Prestwick centre outage and its ripple effect
The problem, described by Nats as a “connectivity issue” in the system network, was reported early this morning and appears to have been resolved within a few hours. Cirium, an aviation-analytics firm, recorded roughly 200 flights that either did not depart or were cancelled by 13:45 BST, with roughly half of those destined for the UK and the other half scheduled to arrive.
Airlines such as EasyJet, British Airways, Wizz Air UK and Ryanair saw dozens of departures erased from their timetables. EasyJet suffered the heaviest hit, losing 47 of its 670 scheduled departures, while British Airways reported 11 cancellations. Passengers at major hubs—including Heathrow Airport in west London and Edinburgh Airport—found themselves staring at blanked-out departure boards.
Political fallout and industry outcry
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed she will meet Sir Warren East chair of the Nats board, in the coming weeks after a “full and frank conversation” with chief executive Martin Rolfe. Alexander told reporters she was “angry at the situation” and that the scale of the disruption was “bad enough” to merit a direct discussion with the board chair.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham speaking en route to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, declined to dismiss Rolfe, stating that the issues “need to be fully investigated” and that the transport secretary would “get to the bottom of what is behind this and why there has been a recurrence.”
Airlines have not held back. Ryanair’s chief executive called for Rolfe’s resignation, famously claiming that a 15-year-old could do a better job at a fraction of the CEO’s £1.5 million pay packet. The airline estimated the September 8 incident cost it between €4 million and €5 million. Wizz Air UK’s managing director echoed the sentiment, calling the situation a “national confidence crisis” and urging an urgent reform of Nats’ leadership.
Recurring failures and the financial backdrop
The September 8 incident, which forced the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights was traced to a “software defect” that manifested in a millisecond. Rolfe publicly accepted “full responsibility” for that event. This latest connectivity problem marks the second major outage within a fortnight, following a radar-related failure last July that halted over 160 flights.
Historically, Nats has weathered four high-profile collapses in the past four years, including an August bank-holiday outage in 2023 that stranded roughly 700,000 passengers. The UK government, holding a 49 % stake in the public-private enterprise, faces mounting pressure to ensure the provider’s resilience, especially as no other EU air-traffic-control system has experienced a comparable failure rate.
While the Civil Aviation Authority advises that passengers affected by the latest glitch are unlikely to receive compensation—categorising the event as “extraordinary circumstances”—air-travel advocates stress that airlines must still provide assistance, such as meals or accommodation, depending on delay length.
With the Transport Secretary set to convene a meeting with Nats’ chair and the industry pressing for accountability, the coming weeks will determine whether the organization can restore confidence or whether a leadership overhaul becomes inevitable.
