UK air travel disrupted as air traffic glitch grounds hundreds of flights

A severe technical failure in the UK's air traffic control network continued to disrupt flight operations on Wednesday, with London Heathrow experiencing the bulk of disruptions. Flight tracking platform Flightradar24 reported that following roughly 1,300 flight cancellations nationwide on Tuesday, an additional 177 services—predominantly at Heathrow—were canceled on Wednesday.

National Air Traffic Services (NATS) confirmed the primary technical glitch has been resolved, but warned that restoring normal network flows across the airspace will take time. NATS Chief Executive Martin Rolfe met with Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, offering a formal apology and accepting full organizational responsibility for the disruption.

The systemic bottleneck has stranded tens of thousands of travelers. British Airways cautioned that knock-on effects would persist due to displaced aircraft and flight crews, while budget carrier Ryanair announced that over 50 canceled flights had affected upwards of 65,000 passengers. Regional hubs including Gatwick, Liverpool, Birmingham, Edinburgh, and Dublin were severely impacted; even Arsenal FC was forced to cancel its Champions League pre-match press conference in Naples after travel out of London was delayed.