On September 8, a major air traffic control system failure occurred in the UK, leading to widespread flight delays and cancellations at the country's major airports.

According to the British air navigation service provider NATS, the malfunction affected the flight plan processing system. Restrictions impacted, in particular, the airports of Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester, Birmingham, Luton, and Edinburgh, among others.

According to Flightradar24 data, more than 1 thousand flights were cancelled and hundreds more were delayed as a result of the outage. At Heathrow, flight arrivals were suspended at one point, while departures later resumed.

The consequences of the malfunction extended beyond the UK. The disruptions affected international flights, including services to Ireland and other European destinations. EasyJet reported delays across Europe.

NATS later announced that the technical issue had been resolved and the system had returned to normal operation. However, restoring the regular schedule required additional time due to the backlog of delays and the need to reposition aircraft and crews.

As of September 9, the aftermath of the disruption continued to affect airport operations. Authorities and airlines warned passengers of potential delays and recommended checking flight status before heading to the airport.

The exact cause of the technical fault is currently being determined. The head of NATS stated that the incident was not linked to a cyberattack. UK Transport Minister Heidi Alexander demanded that NATS management provide an explanation for the incident and take measures to prevent similar occurrences in the future.