Air Traffic Glitch - Cancelled Flights
A screenshot of the UK air traffic during the glitch, according to AirNav Radar, a real-time global flight trafficking platform and mobile app Screenshot from Twitter/AirNav Radar @AirNavRadar

Over 1,000 flights and tens of thousands of passengers in the UK were affected by an air traffic control glitch. Flightradar24, a real-time global flight tracking platform, reported: 'All told, 1,300 flights were canceled to/from airports in the UK on Tuesday. 177 flights have been canceled so far on Wednesday, nearly all at London-Heathrow.'

A similar platform, AirNav Radar, reported: 'Flight cancellations and delays continue across major UK airports. Over 1,305 flights were canceled across the UK between yesterday (8 September) and today (9 September).' According to its data, the following airports had the following cancelled and delayed flights: London Heathrow (527 and 426), London Gatwick (258 and 402), London Stansted (122 and 295), London Luton (96 and 153) and London City (64 and 49).

NATS Apologises for Glitch

NATS, the main provider of air traffic control services in the UK, apologised for the incident, which it claimed was due to a technical issue. 'We have implemented a fix and our flight system is starting to recover. We are continuing to work closely with our airline and airport customers on recovery,' NATS said in a statement released on social media.

'We apologise again for the disruption caused. Passengers should check with their airline on the status of their flight tonight or tomorrow. Work is continuing to assist airlines and airports in recovering from today's disruption. This has been a very complex recovery and has created difficulties for the whole aviation network, from which it will take time to recover.'

Martin Rolfe, NATS CEO, admitted that the incident went longer than expected. He said an investigation will be made as to what went wrong. The glitch may have been solved, but it would be difficult to fully resume all flights immediately.

Social Media Users Question Timing

Some social media users speculated that the air traffic disruption was linked to the growing tension between the UK and Israeli governments. Posts suggested the timing was 'too coincidental', noting that on the same day, UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced strict trade sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

'Israel did it,' one social media user said, as another remarked: 'Israel is probably behind this.' Another said: 'Interesting timing on the air traffic control "glitch" at Heathrow and Gatwick,' while sharing a news item about Israel's Foreign Ministry announcing countermeasures against UK sanctions.

There is no evidence that Israel was responsible for the NATS technical failure, and NATS has attributed the disruption to a technical issue.

This is not the first time NATS has triggered widespread disruption at UK airports. In 2023, a computer shutdown caused massive airline cancellations and delays on 28 August. More than 700,000 passengers were affected.

An investigation found that a flight-plan error caused the system failure. A senior engineer, who was rostered on-call but was not initially on site, took about three hours to arrive at NATS headquarters in Swanwick, Hampshire, to help fix the problem.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the technical failure caused significant damage to the industry and passengers, with the total cost estimated at between £75 million ($101.6m) and £100 million ($135.5m).

Following the 2023 mishap, NATS said it had ensured senior engineers were on site, especially during 'high traffic periods.'

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