Air traffic control authority says departures at all airports have resumed after glitch affected flights across the United Kingdom.
Flights across the United Kingdom have been disrupted as the country’s air traffic control authority reported a technical issue, but later said the glitch had been resolved.
The National Air Traffic Services, or NATS, said in a statement on Wednesday that departures at all airports have resumed and that teams are working with affected airlines and airports to “clear the backlog safely”.
“Our systems are fully operational and air traffic capacity is returning to normal,” it said.
The outage, announced by NATS 20, included Heathrow Airport, Britain’s largest airport and Europe’s busiest.
“Flights at Heathrow have resumed following a technical issue at the NATS Swanwick air traffic control centre. We are advising passengers to check with their airline before travelling,” an airport spokesperson said.
Gatwick Airport and Edinburgh Airport also said operations were resuming.
ℹ️ Technical issue at Swanwick
Our systems are fully operational and air traffic capacity is returning to normal.
(1/2) https://t.co/69ftwzLeSK pic.twitter.com/KKDercVfqa
— NATS (@NATS) July 30, 2025
London City Airport had earlier also reported disruption. It was not clear exactly how long the outage had lasted.
The NATS system has suffered several software-related failures since it opened in 2002.
In August 2023, flights across Britain were disrupted after the automatic processing of flight plans malfunctioned. Hundreds of flights were delayed or canceloed at the height of the summer holidays, and some 700,000 passengers were affected.
Britain’s aviation regulator last year said NATS needed to review its contingency plans for outages after the outage, which airline bosses said cost them over 100 million pounds ($133m) in refunds and compensation.
