Story perspectives

NATS outage disrupted 2,145 flights after spurious data

By Drooid · Sep 12, 2026, 12:13 PM UTC · How we work

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Summary

Story summary

NATS technical failure cancelled more than 2,000 flights, with 2,145 flights disrupted on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Financial Times reported a military aircraft flight plan introduced spurious data that triggered the outage.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander summoned NATS chief Martin Rolfe and ordered a cause determination within a week.
The Civil Aviation Authority said passengers are unlikely to receive compensation because the outage qualifies as extraordinary circumstances.

History

Historical Context

Since its 1962 creation as NATCS and 1996 conversion to a limited company, NATS has faced several system outages, notably a 2014 software-line failure that halted London airspace and a 2026 glitch caused by erroneous military flight-plan data. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander and CEO Martin Rolfe were tasked to investigate after 349 British Airways flights were cancelled.

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Story summary

NATS technical failure cancelled more than 2,000 flights, with 2,145 flights disrupted on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Financial Times reported a military aircraft flight plan introduced spurious data that triggered the outage.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander summoned NATS chief Martin Rolfe and ordered a cause determination within a week.
The Civil Aviation Authority said passengers are unlikely to receive compensation because the outage qualifies as extraordinary circumstances.

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