International-News

UK Air Traffic Control Fault Disrupts Flights Again, Sparking Fresh Criticism

Hundreds of flights were affected across the United Kingdom after a technical issue at the country’s air traffic control network, marking a second major disruption in less than two weeks and reigniting scrutiny of the system’s reliability

A new UK air traffic control fault triggered widespread disruption for passengers traveling to and from the United Kingdom on Monday, with roughly 200 flights canceled, delayed, or otherwise unable to operate as scheduled. The incident is the second major systems failure to hit the country’s air traffic management network in less than two weeks.

NATS, the UK’s air traffic control provider, said it detected a technical problem during the early hours of the morning at its operations center in Prestwick, Scotland. The organization stressed that the incident was unrelated to the software failure on September 8 that caused the cancellation of around 2,000 flights across the country.

In a later update, NATS said the issue had been resolved, attributing the disruption to a connectivity problem within its systems network. Even after the technical fault was addressed, however, operational consequences continued to ripple through the aviation sector.

According to figures reported by Cirium, an aviation analytics company cited by the BBC, approximately 200 flights had been canceled or had failed to operate by 1:45 p.m. local time.

The latest disruption has intensified pressure on NATS and prompted renewed questions from airlines over the resilience of the UK’s air traffic control infrastructure.

Among the most vocal critics was Ryanair, which called for the resignation of NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe following the latest breakdown.

The episode comes as the industry is still dealing with the fallout from the significantly larger disruption earlier this month, leaving airlines facing fresh criticism and passengers once again confronting delays and cancellations across the network.

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