Flights in and out of Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England were disrupted on Monday following a technical issue affecting air traffic control systems.
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NATS, formerly known as National Air Traffic Services, said engineers were investigating the problem at its Prestwick centre in Scotland. Airports south of Manchester, including those serving London, were “broadly unaffected”, although flights heading north and departures from Scottish airports faced some delays.
NATS said the disruption was unrelated to the software glitch that caused more than 2,000 flight cancellations across the UK two weeks ago. That incident led to calls for chief executive Martin Rolfe to step down.
EasyJet said the latest disruption “once again, calls into question the resilience of NATS’ systems”, while British Airways described it as “disappointing” after “yet another technical fault”.
The UK government owns 49% of NATS, making it the largest shareholder and giving it veto powers over key decisions.
