UK air traffic control suffers second major outage in two weeks, spurring calls for NATS chief’s resignation

A connectivity fault at NATS’ Prestwick control centre on Monday caused widespread flight delays and cancellations at Scottish airports, Belfast and Manchester, while airports south of Manchester were largely unaffected. The incident follows a software‑related outage on 8 September that cancelled over 2,000 flights. Ryanair’s chief operations officer Neal McMahon, Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice and Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander have publicly urged NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe to step down.

Airlines including EasyJet, Jet2 and Ryanair have criticised the resilience of NATS’ systems and called for urgent corrective action. NATS engineers remain on site working to restore full service as the Civil Aviation Bill progresses through Parliament.