Heathrow and Gatwick delays live: Hundreds of flights grounded at UK airports due to air traffic control glitch

Thousands of passengers at airports including Heathrow and Gatwick are facing travel chaos due to a “technical issue” that grounded flights across the UK.

Departures were severely delayed because air-traffic chiefs said planes could not take off safely.

But about four hours after the disruption began, the National Air Traffic Control Service (Nats) said engineers had identified the problem and had fixed it.

However, it was not clear how long it would take for systems to return to normal after the widespread delays and cancellations.

A Nats spokesperson apologised for the delays and advised passengers to check with their airline before travelling to airports.

The worst affected airports were Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham, according to Flightradar24, which said approximately 4 per cent of UK flights had been cancelled or delayed as a result of the issue.

Ryanair and Wizz Air slammed Nats as “not fit for purpose”.

Some passengers were planning to spend the night in airports. One couple had their honeymoon flights cancelled.

Full list of airports hit by chaosJane Dalton8 September 2026 18:22

Elderly people and families on Heathrow arrival flight kept on plane for five hoursPassengers contradicted Heathrow’s statement that incoming flights were unaffected.

Matt Ethan told The Independent his flight from Vancouver had been sitting on the tarmac for five hours, with elderly people and children on board.

“At what point does it become inhumane keeping passengers trapped on an aeroplane for that time after already travelling 8 hours overnight?

“As far as I know, there are a number of other arrivals that are stuck in the same position – so others have likely been trapped longer than us.

“The pilot and cabin crew are great of course, but there’s an issue when Nats officials are saying that ‘arrivals haven’t been affected’ but we have, because the departures are still on the stands we’re meant to be arriving at.

“There’s a lot of elderly people and small children on this flight. Where are the buses to come collect us? And why is no one keeping our pilot informed?”

Another passenger said their flight from San Francisco landed at 1.50 pm but the plane had been left sitting on the runway for four hours.

Jane Dalton8 September 2026 18:17

In pictures: Stranded passengers

(PA)

(w8media)

(PA)Jane Dalton8 September 2026 18:07

Honeymoon cancelled amid disruption The flights disruption has stopped at least one couple from going on honeymoon.

Marco Marcucci and his wife married in July and waited until after the August rush to take their honeymoon.

They were due to fly from Milano Linate to San Francisco via Heathrow tomorrow morning but the flight was cancelled.

Mr Marcucci said his wife was angry as they had been planning their trip since February.

Jane Dalton8 September 2026 18:05

Plane to Shanghai turns back mid-flightA British Airways plane from London to Shanghai has turned around and let passengers off at Cardiff, FlightRadar24 has said.

BA169 from Heathrow to Shanghai turned back due to a “technical issue” and diverted to Cardiff – a move likely to be caused by the air traffic fallout.

Jane Dalton8 September 2026 17:59

Call for urgent reform of air-traffic controlWizz Air called for urgent reform of the National Air Traffic Control Services.

“A critical national infrastructure provider should not repeatedly bring the aviation system to a standstill. Nats is simply not fit for purpose in its current form,” a spokesperson said.

“Airlines, passengers and airports cannot continue to bear the consequences of recurring system failures.”

Last July, a “radar-related issue” caused an air traffic control failure that grounded flights across the UK – disrupting thousands of passengers and forcing the cancellation of more than 160 flights.

The problem happened at Nats’ control centre in Swanwick, Hampshire, and affected the vast majority of England and Wales.

A government source said the failure lasted around 20 minutes, and the level of disruption was similar to a day with bad weather.

In August 2023, more than 700,000 passengers experienced disruption when flights were grounded at UK airports when Nats suffered a technical glitch while processing a flight plan.

A Nats spokeswoman said: “We have implemented a fix and our flight system is starting to recover.

“We are continuing to work closely with our airline and airport customers on recovery.

“We apologise sincerely for the disruption to people’s journeys today and they should continue to check with their airline.”

Jane Dalton8 September 2026 17:54

Arsenal Naples press conference cancelled amid chaosAn Arsenal team pre-match press conference in Naples has been cancelled due to the disruption, because the team will not get there before 9.30pm at the earliest, writes Miguel Delaney at Gatwick.

“Im going on an Easyjet flight, and we ‘boarded’ but that was basically just into a barriered area where you take the shuttle.

“We have to keep showing our boarding pass to go back in and out to go to the toilet or get food,” he said.

Jane Dalton8 September 2026 17:49

Delays leave holidaymakers travelling overnightSome flight delays of several hours will mean passengers travelling overnight once they reach their destinations.

Chris Knaggs, 67, was due to fly to Malaga from Gatwick at 7.10pm today but has found out his flight has been delayed until 11:45pm.

The retired government worker told the Press Association: “We had a message from EasyJet saying there’s going to be a delay and to wait for more information.”

Mr Knaggs, from south London, found out through the airline’s website about the delay, which is currently over four hours.

“If it gets much further on there’s a danger of it being cancelled,” he added.

Mr Knaggs said that once they arrive in Malaga, they will have to travel for three hours to reach their accommodation, meaning they likely won’t arrive until around 7am on Wednesday.

Jane Dalton8 September 2026 17:41

Couple set to stay at airport overnight Katherina Wilken, who was due to be flying back from Heathrow to Dusseldorf in Germany with her partner on Tuesday, said she started to panic when at 3pm she had no gate information for her flight scheduled for 2.45pm, which was said to be delayed until 3.25pm.

The 26-year-old said she and her partner were now due to leave Heathrow at around 7am on Wednesday.

“We waited a long time because the display only said delayed for a long time and then that didn’t change,” she said.

“Then we started to question staff.”

She added: “It’s way too stressful to stay in a hotel miles away, we will probably stay here (at the airport) tonight.”

Jane Dalton8 September 2026 17:38

Bristol Airport flights disruptedFlights at Bristol Airport have also been affected by the technical issue.

A spokesperson said: “There is disruption to flights across the UK due to a technical issue with National Air Traffic Services, which is affecting flights at Bristol Airport.

“We recommend passengers travelling today contact their airline directly to check the latest flight information and prior to leaving for the airport.”

Jane Dalton8 September 2026 17:27