- A technical fault at NATS Prestwick Centre cut Scottish airspace capacity by 60% and delayed flights across Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland.
- Engineers restored the immediate service, but backlogs kept causing delays and cancellations at Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast and Manchester airports.
- NATS said the issue was separate from earlier cancellations that affected about 2,000 flights earlier this month.
A technical failure at the National Air Traffic Services Prestwick Centre on Monday cut capacity in Scottish-controlled airspace by 60%, delaying flights across Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland. Some passengers faced waits of at least 60 minutes as the disruption grounded aircraft at several UK airports.
Engineers investigated the Flight Data Processing System after the fault reduced the number of aircraft that could safely move through the affected airspace. The centre manages air traffic across Scotland and the north of England.
The restrictions reached Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast and other airports. One Glasgow passenger said they were “boarded to go from Glasgow to Stansted” before being told to wait.
NATS applied controls to reduce traffic demand while engineers worked on the problem. The agency said the measures protected safety rather than reflecting a new limit on airline schedules.
“We are investigating a technical issue at our Prestwick centre in Scotland. To maintain safety, air traffic regulations have been applied to manage traffic demand.”
The agency later said engineers had restored the immediate service. Delays remained as airlines and air traffic controllers removed restrictions and worked through aircraft and passenger backlogs.
The restrictions spread beyond Scotland before systems recovered
Belfast International Airport, Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Manchester Airport all reported disruption, alongside Edinburgh Airport and Glasgow airports. The effects included both delays and cancellations.
Airports south of Manchester were broadly unaffected, while northbound services and departures from Scottish airports continued to face delays. The location of the fault meant that flights could encounter disruption even when they were not departing from the centre’s immediate area.
Edinburgh Airport said it was experiencing delays linked to the incident. Glasgow passengers reported waits of at least 60 minutes, with aircraft and boarding schedules held back while the restrictions remained in place.
The disruption did not affect every UK flight. Cirium data put cancellations across UK airports at 35 flights, while another assessment described the incident as affecting only a small share of total flights.
| Area or measure | Reported effect |
|---|---|
| Scottish-controlled airspace | Capacity restricted by 60% |
| Glasgow passengers | Delays of at least 60 minutes reported |
| Airports south of Manchester | Broadly unaffected |
| UK-wide cancellations | 35 flights in Cirium data |
The agency separated the failure from an earlier disruption
NATS said Monday’s fault was unrelated to the software defect that caused 2,000 cancellations earlier this month. The agency said the new issue was “nothing to do with the problem we had earlier this month.”
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said engineers had fixed the problem and that systems were returning to service.
“There has been a further IT issue affecting Nats. Engineers have fixed the problem and systems are resuming.”
The earlier cancellations had already focused attention on the centre’s reliability. Monday’s incident renewed that scrutiny, although NATS treated the two failures as separate events.
The agency also apologised for the disruption. Airlines remained responsible for the latest departure information as schedules recovered from the temporary capacity reduction.
The centre’s work affects flights moving through Scottish airspace as well as services leaving Scottish airports. That made the operational response broader than a single airport closure, with restrictions applied across the network to control demand.
Engineers fixed the immediate technical problem, but the recovery continued after the system resumed. Airlines still had to reposition aircraft, update departure times and clear passengers held by the earlier controls.
The episode follows the separate failure earlier this month that caused about 2,000 cancellations. The renewed attention on the Prestwick Centre will now centre on the causes of both incidents and the steps engineers take after Monday’s disruption.
