Air traffic across northern England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland was disrupted on Monday following a technical failure at the United Kingdom’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) Prestwick centre. The incident led to delays and cancellations at several airports, including Manchester, Glasgow, Belfast, and Edinburgh, with some 227 flights being cancelled or delayed as of the afternoon, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

NATS reported that the problem stemmed from a connectivity issue within part of its systems network and stressed that it was unrelated to a software fault that caused widespread flight cancellations earlier this month. The operator said the technical issue had been resolved by midmorning, but the knock-on effects continued to impact flight schedules.

Manchester Airport experienced delays to approximately 100 flights, while Edinburgh was the worst hit in terms of cancellations, followed by Glasgow and Belfast. Airlines including EasyJet, Ryanair, Jet2, and British Airways reported significant disruption. EasyJet cancelled 47 of its scheduled departures, British Airways cut 12 flights, and Ryanair said about 25,000 passengers were affected. British Airways alerted customers to potential delays and removed several domestic flights involving London City Airport.

The recurring failures at NATS have sparked significant criticism from industry representatives and airlines. Ryanair reiterated calls for the resignation of NATS Chief Executive Martin Rolfe, citing repeated operational failures and a lack of effective backup systems to prevent passenger disruption. EasyJet described the latest incident as evidence of systemic weaknesses within NATS. Jet2 called for accountability and improved resilience measures, stating that passengers and airlines deserve better.

The UK government has expressed concern. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander acknowledged the frustration caused to passengers and described Monday’s issue as a “further IT problem” that has now been dealt with. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the problems raised “clearly serious issues” requiring thorough investigation. Alexander has faced pressure over Rolfe’s leadership following three major air traffic control failures in three years but recently allowed him to remain in his position after a preliminary NATS report attributed the earlier September outage to a software problem.

Airport officials underscored the challenges caused by the disruptions. Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, noted that cancellations lead to aircraft and crews being out of position, potentially extending delays into subsequent days.

With the disruptions occurring shortly after a major September outage that affected about 2,000 flights and hundreds of thousands of passengers, questions persist about the robustness of the UK’s air traffic control infrastructure and the readiness of NATS to manage critical national airspace safely and reliably.