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NATS Investigates Flight System Glitch Causing Airport Delays

9/8/2026

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Summary

NATS Investigates Delays

National Air Traffic Services (NATS) is investigating a technical issue in its flight-processing system.
The problem is causing departure delays at East Midlands Airport and London Stansted.
On September 8, 2026, NATS advised passengers to check flight status with airlines.
NATS engineers are on site working urgently to restore normal operations.
NATS apologized for the travel disruption.

Summary

Sophie Lam Advises

Travel editor Sophie Lam advises passengers to first contact airlines by phone, email or social media for delay help.
The 2024 CAA probe found NATS took 90 minutes for an engineer to reach headquarters after the 2023 outage.
Airlines UK chief Tim Alderslade said the incident revealed inadequate resilience planning at NATS.
IATA reported airlines paid roughly £100 million in refunds, rebookings and accommodation after the 2023 glitch.

History

Historical Context

In May 2017 British Airways suffered a computer power failure that cancelled all flights and stranded thousands, exposing IT fragility. The airline’s 2018 breach compromised roughly 380,000 payment cards, prompting tighter oversight. Today’s NATS technical glitch at East Midlands and Stansted echoes those failures, leading regulators to demand real-time response protocols.

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NATS Investigates Delays

National Air Traffic Services (NATS) is investigating a technical issue in its flight-processing system.
The problem is causing departure delays at East Midlands Airport and London Stansted.
On September 8, 2026, NATS advised passengers to check flight status with airlines.
NATS engineers are on site working urgently to restore normal operations.
NATS apologized for the travel disruption.

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