Air traffic control issue disrupts flights across northern UK

Flights across Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England continue to be disrupted after a technical issue at an air traffic control centre prompted restrictions on aircraft movements.

National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said engineers were investigating the problem at its Prestwick centre in Scotland, with air traffic regulations introduced to manage demand while the issue was examined.

Airports south of Manchester were “broadly unaffected”, NATS said, although flights travelling north and those departing from Scottish airports were experiencing delays.

Edinburgh Airport reported delays, while Belfast City Airport recorded several cancellations, including services to and from Manchester, Amsterdam, London City, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. Flights between City of Derry Airport and Glasgow were also cancelled.

Manchester Airport reported delays of up to an hour on some services, although no cancellations had been recorded at the time. Some disruption was also reported at East Midlands Airport.

NATS advised passengers to check directly with their airlines for the latest information.

The disruption comes shortly after a separate UK air traffic control problem earlier in September resulted in around 2,000 flight cancellations. NATS said the latest incident was unrelated to the earlier technical problems.

Luke Petherbridge, ABTA's Director of Public Affairs, said: “This is the second NATS incident to cause disruption in the last fortnight, and fourth in recent years. It’s simply not good enough. The industry and travelling public will want answers – not only on what has gone wrong, but critically how the system is going to be made more resilient to avoid future outages.

“These incidents cause inconvenience to travellers and significant financial costs for airlines and the wider travel industry, including additional work and costs for ABTA’s tour operator and travel agent members.

“As these NATS issues are entirely outside of travel companies’ control, the Government should seriously consider whether NATS should be made to compensate the wider industry for such events.”

For travel insurers, the cause and duration of disruption can be important in determining whether policy benefits are triggered.

Cover for flight delays, abandonment, missed departures or additional travel costs varies between policies, while travellers may also have rights to assistance or reimbursement from their airline depending on the circumstances.