Chaos after planes grounded across Britain

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5 days ago

Hundreds of thousands of passengers across the UK are suffering travel chaos after an air traffic control failure grounded planes at the start of the school summer holidays.
London's airspace was closed for more than an hour because of 'technical issues' said to be caused by a 'radar failure' that last 20 minutes, according to a Department for Transport (DfT) source.
Air traffic control provider Nats said its engineers have 'restored the system that was affected' and it is 'in the process of resuming normal operations'. It said the technical issue was at its control centre in Swanwick, Hampshire.
More than 120 flights had so far been cancelled by 7.30pm, with fears that the disruption could carry on for days.
Aviation data company Cirium said there were 3,080 scheduled departures from UK airports on Wednesday - equating to more than 577,000 seats.
Credit:Flightradar24
Ryanair has called for Nats's chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign, claiming 'no lessons have been learnt' since the August 2023 outage when more than 700,000 passengers suffered disruption after Nats suffered a technical glitch.
The full cost of that meltdown to airlines, airports passengers and others was around £100 million.
Neal McMahon, the Irish-headquartered airline's chief operating officer, said: 'It is outrageous that passengers are once again being hit with delays and disruption due to Martin Rolfe's continued mismanagement of Nats.'
He said Ryanair pays Nats more than €100m (£86m) and expects better service.
The Liberal Democrats demanded a Government investigation into Wednesday's air traffic control glitch 'to ensure the system is fit for purpose, including ruling out hostile action as a cause'.
Sir Ed Davey added: 'The public deserve to have full confidence in such a vital piece of national infrastructure.'
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: 'I am aware of a technical issue which impacted Nats' operations causing travel disruption this afternoon.
'I have been informed systems have now been restored but continued disruption is expected, and passengers should check with individual airports for advice.'
08:54 PM BST
That's all for today
Thank you for following our live coverage. Here are the headlines from this afternoon's air traffic control outage:
A 'technical issue' thought to be a 'radar failure' at Nats, the air traffic control provider, led to the closure of London's airspace for more than an hour.
Cirium, an aviation data company, said more than 120 flights had so far been cancelled by 7.30pm.
Passengers spoke of their frustrations at being kept in limbo on the tarmac and worries over missing events such as weddings.
The Liberal Democrats called for an investigation to rule out 'hostile action as a cause'.
Ryanair called on Martin Rolfe, the head of Nats, to resign over the 'outrageous' disruption.
Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, said 'continued disruption is expected'.
08:45 PM BST
More than 120 flights cancelled
More than 120 flights have been cancelled so far today, according to the latest figures from aviation data company Cirium.
As of 7.30pm, 67 departures and 55 arrivals were chalked off across all UK airports, with Heathrow seeing the highest number of cancellations so far at 24 departures and 14 arrivals.
08:25 PM BST
Government 'working closely' with air traffic control to establish cause
The Department for Transport has said it is working closely with Nats, the air traffic control providers, to establish the cause of the technical issue.
In a statement, a spokesman said: 'While passengers should continue to check with individual airports for advice, Nats have confirmed their systems are now fully operational and flights are returning to normal.
'We are working closely with Nats to understand the cause of the technical issue and the implications for the resilience systems in place.'
The department noted that the Transport Secretary does not have any direct control over Nats and has no powers on staffing decisions.
08:05 PM BST
Teenager diverted to Brussels on first unaccompanied trip
Standing in front of the departure board at Heathrow Terminal 5, one woman told The Telegraph that her flight delay pales in significance to the travel chaos her teenage son has encountered on the way back from his first solo trip abroad.
'I think my flight to Munich is delayed, but got here early anyway to have a glass of wine,' said Louise, who declined to give her surname. Her flight was not showing as delayed on the departure board by the baggage check-in, but an online tracker suggested it was running an hour and ten minutes late. 'That isn't too bad,' she added.
'But my son, who is 15 and flying for the first time as an unaccompanied minor from Marseille to Heathrow, has landed in Brussels. So I am tracking him as well.'
07:43 PM BST
French tourists adopt laissez faire approach to flight chaos
French tourists have been left stranded after two flights to Paris were cancelled following the Nats radar failure.
A group of about 40 passengers, who were booked onto easyJet and AirFrance flights to Charles de Gaulle Airport, have been plotting alternative ways of getting home.
Sophie Viaud, 49, who was scheduled to return to Paris after a 10-day holiday in Scotland with her family, said she was 'sad' her flight had been cancelled.
The mother-of-two said she was now planning to fly to Milan on Thursday morning and then onto Paris. 'It's ok, we don't have a choice', she told The Telegraph.
Another passenger, who wished to remain anonymous, suggested he was not bothered by the cancellations: 'It's better for the flight to be cancelled than to be killed.'
07:33 PM BST
Best man could miss brother's wedding
A man stranded at Heathrow Airport is in danger of missing his brother's wedding.
John Carr, a chiropodist from Stourbridge, was on his way to Norway with friends to help set up his brother's wedding, for which he is best man, when he found out his flight was cancelled.
The 35-year-old said: 'I'm pretty gutted. We've got loads of stuff in the suitcases to set up the venue.
'We've got the wedding rehearsal to do. It's quite stressful.'
His friend James Hedges added: 'We found out today; we'd already checked in and gone through the security checks.
'We were in the departures lounge, and we were literally sitting down having a burger when it came up on the (screen). Our flight was still showing as if it was leaving, and they were waiting to give us a gate and that that would be given at 4.45pm. When that time came around, it then switched to cancelled.'
Mr Carr and his friends were desperately trying to rebook flights inside the terminal.
'We don't know what we're going to do tonight in terms of accommodation,' he said, adding: 'It's rubbish. There's nothing we can do.'
07:15 PM BST
Family's 'trip of a lifetime' in jeopardy
A family on the 'trip of a lifetime' have been caught up in the travel chaos at Heathrow Terminal 5.
Durand Meachem, 49, from North Carolina, is travelling with his partner and their two daughters on a tour of New York, London, Dubai and Thailand to celebrate his upcoming 50th birthday.
'We are supposed to take off at 10.30pm, but being that no flights have come in, all the flights are delayed,' he told The Telegraph.
Mr Meachem said he has been quizzing airport staff to find out details. 'I was asking him a variety of questions about the situation, just because everything is time sensitive, for everyone. Those who are coming in, and those who are leaving.'
07:05 PM BST
Airlines 'unlikely' to hand out compensation for flight turmoil
Consumer group Which? has advised passengers that the radar failure would likely be classified as an 'extraordinary circumstance' outside of the airline's control, making compensation claims unlikely to succeed.
Naomi Leach, deputy editor at Which? Travel, said: 'If your flight is cancelled or delayed, you're unlikely to be owed compensation by the airline as the technical issue is considered an 'extraordinary circumstance' and out of the airline's control.
'However, you do have a right to food or a hotel stay depending on the length of the delay but be sure you keep the receipts as you will need to claim this back from the airline.'
On its website, the Citizens Advice Bureau also said that passengers were unlikely to get compensation if a delay was outside an airline's control, such as through bad weather or security risks.
06:53 PM BST
'We'll just go to the bar and have another drink,' says stranded passenger
In the departure lounge at Heathrow Terminal 5, confused travellers are milling around, waiting for British Airways to update them on the fate of their flights.
'We don't know if we've been affected yet,' said John Wharton, 56, who, along with Christina Franca, 50, is returning from holiday in Madeira and waiting for a connecting flight home to Jersey.
'We've just travelled back from Madeira. We flew in, got here and just connected to the internet and we've seen all the potential problems.'
Despite the prospect of delays, the pair remain optimistic. An earlier Heathrow to Jersey flight due to depart at 4.20pm is now set for 7.20pm, but all later services, including theirs, are still showing as on time.
'We don't know until we start putting our bags in, but we can't put our bags in until 5.40pm, so we are just waiting.'
Mr Wharton remains sanguine. 'It's one of those things, you can't do anything about it.'
'We'll just go to the bar and have another drink, so it's fine. These things happen. It's out of our control.'
06:39 PM BST
Children offered plane tour to pass the time
Children on board a grounded plane have been offered entertainment in the form of taking a look around the cockpit.
Dionne Ukleja, who is travelling with her teenage daughter from Heathrow to Houston following a study abroad programme in Oxford, said: 'At one point the pilot even opened up the flight deck and invited the kids to have a look'.
She said: 'We were supposed to take off at 2.50pm. We were third in the queue when the radar went down.
'They had us sitting on the tarmac for a while before asking us to move across the airport to park next to the Concorde. After about 20 minutes there, we were sent back to the stands.'
06:33 PM BST
Scores of flights cancelled so far
A total of 80 flights to and from the UK have been cancelled so far as a direct result of the Nats radar failure.
That number is likely to rise, aviation data company Cirium warned, as the full impact of the incident makes itself felt across Britain and the Continent.
It does not count the number of delayed flights, which is likely to be in the hundreds if not thousands.
A Cirium spokesman said: 'Today, 30 July 2025, has seen a total of 45 departures cancelled so far, across all UK airports.
'There has also been a total of 35 arrivals cancelled so far, across all UK airports.
'London Heathrow has seen the highest number of cancellations so far with a total of 16 departures and seven arrivals so far.
Around 16 flights en-route to London Heathrow had to be diverted to other airports, Cirium added.
06:24 PM BST
Passengers in limbo becoming 'a little fed up'
Passengers on a Heathrow flight, intended for Orly in southern Paris, are now entering their third hour stuck on the tarmac.
Aurelia, 51, who was travelling from Heathrow to visit family in France, said her Vueling flight was scheduled to take off at 3.05pm, and said passengers 'are all a little fed up'.
She's travelling with her two adult kids but said a number of families with young children are 'roaming around' the cabin, and air hostesses have been 'offering water to people with kids'.
Aurelia added that 'even the crew seems to have received limited information' regarding when the plane will get moving.
06:10 PM BST
Airlines should give stranded passengers 'food and drink' says regulator
Passengers should be given 'food and drink' if they are stranded as a result of the Nats radar system failure, the Civil Aviation Authority has said.
In addition, those stranded overnight should be given hotel accommodation as well.
Meanwhile, Nats - the air traffic control organisation responsible for the radar system which failed this afternoon - will have to deliver a formal incident report to the authority.
A spokesperson for the CAA said: 'We understand the challenges many consumers face following the technical issue that impacted NATS' systems today. Passengers who have been or continue to be impacted can find information about what they are entitled to on our website and social media channels.
'In the event of delays or cancellations, passengers will be expected to be provided with food and drink as well as accommodation if delayed overnight.'Following today's failure, as part of the well-established regulatory processes of NATS' licenced activity, NATS will share an incident report with the CAA.'
05:58 PM BST
Lib Dems call for investigation to rule out 'hostile action as a cause'
A full investigation into Wednesday's air traffic control glitch must be launched, the Liberal Democrats said.
Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said: 'It is utterly unacceptable that after a major disruption just two years ago, air traffic control has once again been hit by a technical fault.
'With thousands of families preparing to go on a well-earned break, this just isn't good enough.
'The Government should launch an urgent investigation to ensure the system is fit for purpose, including ruling out hostile action as a cause.
'The public deserve to have full confidence in such a vital piece of national infrastructure.'
05:45 PM BST
Londoner may miss wedding after captain clocked off during delay
A Londoner may be unable to attend a wedding after her flight was cancelled because of the airspace outage.
Monica Clare, 68, was due to fly with her cousin Geri Hawkins, 71, on Aer Lingus to a wedding in Limerick in the Republic of Ireland.
But the 2.40pm flight from Heathrow Airport was cancelled after the captain's shift ended during a delay.
Ms Clare, from Brentford, west London, and Ms Hawkins, from Barton-on-Sea, Hampshire, have been left unsure of how they will get to a wedding they are due to attend in Limerick on Friday.
'We went back to the stand for more fuel and possibly a new route out but the backlog of flights is a bit crazy now,' Ms Clare told The Telegraph.
'We had a cup of water. The wedding is in Limerick on Friday but a hotel and hire car are awaiting us tonight.
'I was anxious for getting to Shannon while it's still daylight as I am meant to be driving when I get to the other end.
'But at 5.30pm the captain told us their shift had finished so Aer Lingus HQ in Dublin cancelled the flight.
'We have been told to get updates back at the departure terminal as to when and how we can travel.
'We are completely fed up now.'
05:40 PM BST
Heathrow expects flow rate to resume by 7.15pm
British Airways said it will be operating 32 flights per hour until 7.15pm at Heathrow Airport, by which time the airline expects to be back to the usual 45 per hour.
Disruption spanned an hour or more with some domestic and short European flights that weren't due to reach cruising altitude able to depart but the majority disrupted, with no incoming services possible.
Six or seven aircraft that were in the air and due to land were diverted to Paris and Brussels and they're trying to get those passengers home. Other flights were held at foreign airports and that backlog is now being worked through.
A British Airways source said: 'We don't know what caused this yet but it appears to have been a radar issue and Nats are responsible for the radar, so you have to say it the buck stops with them.'
05:34 PM BST
Ryanair calls for air traffic control boss to resign
Martin Rolfe, the head of Nats, must resign after the Wednesday afternoon radar outage that disrupted hundreds of flights to, from and across the UK, Ryanair has said.
The airline, one of Europe's largest operators, slammed Nats for 'unacceptable delays' to those 'travelling with young families on long-awaited summer holidays'.
Neal McMahon, the Irish-headquartered airline's chief operating officer, said: 'It is outrageous that passengers are once again being hit with delays and disruption due to Martin Rolfe's continued mismanagement of Nats.
'Yet another ATC system failure has resulted in the closure of UK airspace meaning thousands of passengers travel plans have been disrupted.
'It is clear that no lessons have been learnt since the Aug'23 Nats system outage and passengers continue to suffer as a result of Martin Rolfe's incompetenceMr McMahon continued: 'If Nats CEO Martin Rolfe fails to resign on the back of this latest NATS system outage that has disrupted thousands of passengers yet again, then UK Transport Minister Heidi Alexander must act without delay to remove Martin Rolfe and deliver urgent reform of Nats' shambolic ATC service, so that airlines and passengers are no longer forced to endure these preventable delays caused by persistent Nats failures.'
05:25 PM BST
Passenger travelling to Greece via Scotland and the Netherlands
Jack Rickeard, who earlier explained he was stuck on a grounded plane at Newcastle airport, said he has managed to plot a new route to Rhodes in Greece.
'We have been lucky enough to get a new departure route via Scotland and the Netherlands,' he said, adding that his flight was 'leaving only about an hour late'.
'Not everyone else is as lucky.'
05:22 PM BST
London City airport warns of 'cancellations'
London City airport has warned that some flights may be cancelled.
In a statement on X , a spokesman for the airport said: 'Due to a technical issue with air traffic control across the London area, flights in and out of London airports - including London City Airport - might be delayed or subject to cancellation.'
05:16 PM BST
Flights to UK subject to three-hour delays
Air traffic control systems are now 'fully operational', Nats has said - although the EU air traffic control agency is warning of delays greater than three hours to UK-bound flights.
A Nats spokesperson said: 'Our systems are fully operational and air traffic capacity is returning to normal. Departures at all airports have resumed and we are working with affected airlines and airports to clear the backlog safely. We apologise to everyone affected by this issue.'
A Department for Transport source said the outage had lasted for about 20 minutes in total, although that is a much shorter amount of time than UK airspace was closed for.
Eurocontrol said in an update to airlines that a 'recovery rate' was in force for flights to the UK, meaning many fewer airliners can be accepted than under normal conditions.
Thanks to the 'previous technical issues' delays will persist until at least 9pm London time, with delays 'as high as 200 minutes per flight'.
05:15 PM BST
Flights being diverted from diversions
James Hall, a features writer at this newspaper, has just touched down at Gatwick from Inverness after narrowly avoiding being diverted to Glasgow.
'We took off in Scotland, got to above the Lake District, were held in holding pattern with other planes and were then told by the pilot that we were being diverted to Glasgow,' he said, adding: 'We headed north again, but 10 minutes later he came back on and said we'd been given a slot at Gatwick.
'So we turned around again.'
05:11 PM BST
Pictured: Planes avoid London Airports
A timelapse from Flight Radar 24 reveals a plunge in the number of planes over the UK.
Many planes have been diverted to mainland Europe.
05:08 PM BST
'Continued disruption is expected,' says Transport Secretary
Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, has said that 'continued disruption is expected' after the Nats radar failure this afternoon.
'I am aware of a technical issue which impacted Nats' operations causing travel disruption this afternoon,' the Cabinet minister posted on X. 'I have been informed systems have now been restored but continued disruption is expected, and passengers should check with individual airports for advice.'
05:04 PM BST
What to do if caught up in London's flight disruption
A cancelled or delayed flight has the potential to disrupt even the best-laid travel plans.
Never has it been more important to know your rights – especially since, in many cases, you may be entitled to hundreds of pounds in compensation.
Below is our guide on everything you need to know if you have been caught up in today's travel chaos.
Read the guide here.
05:01 PM BST
Virgin Atlantic expecting 'disruption'
Virgin Atlantic flights will be delayed because of the outage, the airline has confirmed.
One of the airline's planes travelling from Lagos, Nigeria, has been diverted to Paris Charles De Gaulle airport.
'Due to a technical issue at Nats Swanwick air traffic control, some UK arrivals and departures are subject to delays and disruption,' a spokesman said.
'We apologise in advance to customers who may be affected.'
04:56 PM BST
Passengers stranded on the tarmac
Passengers have been left stranded after a radar failure closed parts of the UK airspace.
Isabella Shepherd-Evans is 'stuck on the tarmac of Faro' after her flight was turned around just as the pilot started to taxi down the runway.
'Flight attendants were handing out water and both doors were opened, warning of lengthy delays,' she told The Telegraph.
Domenico Sorrentino has also been affected by the airspace closure. His 12:45PM flight from Naples to Gatwick was diverted to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
He said he's aiming to go 'back home' but there's been no news from EasyJet as of yet. Dominic says the Airline is 'waiting for information' on what's happened.
He's travelling alone, heading home to Portsmouth. For now he's waiting in the airport to see when his flight will be.
Jack Rickeard is stuck at the gate of a Jet2 flight from Newcastle to Rhodes.
He said he has 'been told by the pilot that we are likely to be delayed for at least 3 hours unless they can arrange an alternative route that avoids London airspace.
He added: 'All other flights leaving Newcastle are delayed, there has already been an Aberdeen to Heathrow flight divert into here.'
04:49 PM BST
'Vast majority' of British Airways flights affected
The 'vast majority' of British Airways flights have been affected by the airspace issue, the airline has confirmed.
'Like all airlines, we are dealing with the impact of an Air Traffic Control issue that is affecting the vast majority of our flights,' a spokesman said.
'Whilst this is entirely outside of our control, we want to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience and assure them that our teams are working hard to get their journeys back on track as quickly as possible.'
04:46 PM BST
Europe braces for knock-on delays
A source in Eurocontrol, the pan-European air traffic control service, said radar failure was an isolated incident in the UK, with no reported outages in continental Europe.
The service was alerted by the British authorities that the failure would halt departures for between 30 and 60 minutes.
They have since been informed that the radar failure has been resolved but will cause further 'huge delays' as a repercussion.
Airports in Amsterdam, Paris and Brussels are all expected to be hit by knock on effects. However, the Northern European hubs are not yet regulating their service, despite taking a number of diverted flights.
Credit:Flightradar24
04:44 PM BST
Outage potentially affected hundreds of thousands of passengers
Today's outage may have affected hundreds of thousands of passengers, data about the number of flights arriving and departing from British airports suggests.
Cirium, an aviation data company, said there were a total of 3,080 scheduled departures from UK airports today, equating to more than 577,000 seats.
Similarly, 3,090 flights were timetabled to arrive at British airports, bringing in a total of 579,000 passengers if every single seat was filled.
Many of those flights, having landed or departed earlier today, will not have been affected by Wednesday afternoon's outage, which appears to have lasted just over an hour.
Nonetheless, the knock-on effects are likely to last for the rest of the day and potentially into tomorrow.
This comes as Friday, 1 August 2025, is projected to be the busiest day for global air traffic this year, based on scheduled flights, with a flight departing every 0.75 seconds somewhere around the world, on average.
04:43 PM BST
'Going nowhere,' says passenger
Passengers have reported being grounded at Heathrow Airport after 'radar issues' closed swathes of UK airspace.
The problem is said to have now been resolved but delays and cancellations are still likely to persist.
04:32 PM BST
Analysis: Shutdown echoes summer 2023
The nationwide air traffic control shutdown this afternoon will immediately bring to mind the vast Nats outage of summer 2023.
During that incident, which also happened during the key summer season, more than 700,000 passengers were stranded when flights had to be grounded following a technical glitch.
A radar failure is said to be the cause of Wednesday's meltdown so far but details are, at the time of writing, scant. A simultaneous nationwide radar failure suggests at the very least a critical computer failure.
The cause of that failure will be keenly scrutinised over the coming days, weeks and months.
The full cost of that meltdown to airlines, airports passengers and others was around £100 million.
Today's outage is shorter than 2023's four-hour meltdown, but the costs are likely to be in the same ballpark.
An inquiry set up by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the regulator, into the August 28, 2023 incident found that Nats had rostered a support engineer to be on-call and working from home rather than on site that day, despite it being one of the busiest of the year in terms of passenger numbers.
04:31 PM BST
Problem resolved but disruption likely to continue
The radar fault that forced the closure of all London-controlled airspace over the UK has now been fixed, Nats has said within the last few minutes, but knock-on delays are likely to continue.
A spokesman for Nats said: 'Our engineers have now restored the system that was affected this afternoon. We are in the process of resuming normal operations in the London area.
'We continue to work closely with airline and airport customers to minimise disruption.
'We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.'
04:30 PM BST
'Radar issues' causing nationwide shutdown
London's skies are beginning to reopen, Eurocontrol has said within the last few minutes.
The cause of the nationwide shutdown is said to be 'radar issues'.
All of England and Wales' skies are controlled by Nats, the British air traffic control centre, from its HQ at Swanwick in Hampshire.
A radar failure would leave controllers unable to see which aeroplanes are where in the sky, potentially affecting flight safety.
The Telegraph has obtained footage from on board a plane at Faro airport in which an announcement blames 'radar system back in the UK' .
Credit: Isabella Shepherd-Evans for The Telegraph
04:28 PM BST
No departures from Gatwick
Gatwick Airport has confirmed that the 'technical issue' impacting Nats was impacting all outbound flights across the UK.
A spokesman for Gatwick said: 'A technical issue impacting NATS is affecting all outbound flights across the UK.
'There are currently no departures from London Gatwick while the situation is being resolved.
'We are working with NATS to resume flights as quickly as possible. Inbound flights are still landing at the airport. Passengers should check the status of their flights with their airline.'
04:21 PM BST
Flights landing but skies sparse
A Eurocontrol notice seen by The Telegraph instructed airlines that London airspace was closed to all incoming flights from 2.39pm GMT today.
Flights that are still airborne over Britain appear to be landing safely as planned, according to Flight Radar 24 data, but planes appeared to be avoiding the airspace over London.
Credit:Flightradar24
04:18 PM BST
Flight paths over London 'limited'
A spokesman for Nats, the air traffic control company in charge of Britain's skies, acknowledged a 'technical issue' but said he could give no indication of when the problems would be fixed.
He said: 'As a result of a technical issue at Nats Swanwick air traffic control centre, we are limiting the number of aircraft flying in the London control area in order to ensure safety, which is always our first priority.
'We apologise for any delays this may cause. Our engineers are working hard to resolve the problem as quickly as possible and we are working closely with airlines to help minimise disruption.
'At this stage we cannot say how long it will be before operations are back to normal.
'Please check with your airline on the status of your flight.'
04:14 PM BST
Good afternoon
Welcome to our live coverage.
We will be bringing you all the latest updates from the reported closure of London's airspace.
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