NATS Prestwick centre technical fault disrupts UK flights

A technical issue at the National Air Traffic Services centre in Prestwick, Scotland, disrupted flights at several UK airports. NATS said airports south of Manchester were broadly unaffected, but flights heading north and departures from Scottish airports faced delays.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Manchester Airport, Belfast International Airport, Edinburgh Airport and Glasgow Prestwick Airport all reported delays. NATS said flights travelling to the affected airports from elsewhere could also be disrupted, and passengers with British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair were expected to see delays.

Ryanair said it had been told of a NATS air traffic control equipment failure affecting airspace above Scotland and northern England, and expected some delays to flights to and from the UK and Ireland.

At around 10:30 local time, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said engineers had fixed the problem and systems were resuming, though delays were possible as things reset.

NATS said its engineers were still investigating the issue at the Prestwick centre. It apologised for the disruption and said the problem was unrelated to an issue two weeks earlier, when a software failure caused more than 2,000 flight cancellations. The centre advised passengers to check with their airlines.