Thousands of passengers faced disruption at UK airports on July 30, 2025, when an air traffic control glitch led to more than 100 flights being delayed and cancelled.
The National Air Traffic Services (NATS) confirmed that a “technical issue" at a centre in southern England led to flights being suspended at airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff and Edinburgh.
NATS said it was forced to limit the number of aircraft flying in the London control area in order to ensure safety, with the issue solved in around 20 minutes.
Data provided by Cirium showed that a total of 84 departures were cancelled across the day - equating to 3% of all departures.
There was also a total of 71 arrivals cancelled across all UK airports - equating to 2% of all arrivals. A number of inbound flights to UK airports were also diverted to European cities
London Heathrow saw the highest number of cancellations, with a total of 29 departures and 17 arrivals.
At 17:10 BST all systems are fully operational and air traffic capacity had returned to normal. “Departures at all airports have resumed and we are working with affected airlines and airports to clear the backlog safely,” a statement from NATS read.