UAE-UK flights face fresh disruption as air traffic control glitch hits Britain
Heathrow sees widespread disruption as airlines work to reposition aircraft and crews
DUBAI/LONDON – UAE-UK air travel has been hit by continuing disruption after a technical fault at Britain’s air traffic control provider NATS caused widespread cancellations and delays across the country.
The problem affected major airports including London Heathrow and Gatwick, with airlines warning that the impact could continue as aircraft and crews are repositioned. Emirates, Etihad Airways and Air Arabia have all issued updates or advice for passengers travelling between the UAE and UK.
NATS said the technical issue affecting its flight data processing system had been resolved, but warned that recovery would take time because of the backlog created across the aviation network. The organisation said it was operating normally and working to clear the remaining disruption.
The scale of the disruption increased on Wednesday after cancellations continued into a second day. Flight-tracking website Flightradar24 reported that 177 flights scheduled for Wednesday had already been cancelled, with nearly all of those at Heathrow.
All told, 1300 flights were canceled to/from airports in the UK on Tuesday.
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) September 9, 2026
177 flights have been canceled so far on Wednesday, nearly all at London-Heathrow. pic.twitter.com/LWdZcDp36i
This followed a far larger wave of disruption on Tuesday. Flightradar24 data showed around 1,300 flights to and from UK airports were cancelled on Tuesday, while hundreds more were delayed. Earlier figures had put the number of cancellations at 1,055 by 19:00 GMT.
Heathrow disruption
Heathrow was among the worst affected airports. The UK's busiest airport said arrivals were suspended for the remainder of Tuesday, although departures later resumed. On Wednesday, Heathrow said flights were operating but warned that some disruption could continue as airlines reposition aircraft and crew.
The airport urged passengers to check directly with their airline before travelling and to proceed only if their flight had been confirmed as operating. Additional staff were also deployed across terminals to support passengers affected by the disruption.
Following yesterday's NATS technical issue, flights are operating today, but some disruption may continue as airlines reposition aircraft and crew.
— Heathrow Airport (@HeathrowAirport) September 9, 2026
Please check your flight status with your airline before travelling to the airport and only travel if your flight is confirmed to be… pic.twitter.com/DZ2g7GQYkL
Gatwick, London City, Luton, Edinburgh and Bristol were also affected. FlightAware data showed hundreds of departures delayed at six airports, while hundreds of arrivals were either cancelled or delayed.
At Heathrow, aviation analytics company Cirium reported that 38 of 661 scheduled arrivals had been cancelled or were unable to operate. British Airways was the most affected carrier at the airport, cancelling 16 of its 333 scheduled departures.
British Airways said it had been forced to cancel or divert more than 100 flights, affecting tens of thousands of passengers.
The disruption also extended beyond England. Liverpool, Birmingham and Edinburgh airports were affected, while Dublin Airport in Ireland reported dozens of cancellations linked to the wider disruption.
UAE-UK flights
The technical fault also affected services linking the UAE with Britain.
Emirates advised passengers travelling to or from the UK on Tuesday, September 8, to regularly check their flight status and monitor operational updates through the airline's website and email before travelling to the airport. The airline warned that delays, changes or cancellations could affect services because of the disruption.
Etihad Airways reported disruption to several flights between Abu Dhabi and London Heathrow.
Among the affected services on Tuesday was EY64 from London Heathrow to Abu Dhabi, which was cancelled. EY66 from Heathrow to Abu Dhabi was delayed, while EY68 was expected to face an extended delay after its inbound service, EY67, was diverted to Paris Charles de Gaulle.
Etihad said its teams were assisting affected passengers, including with hotel accommodation and rebooking onward travel.
Further Etihad services between Abu Dhabi and the UK were also affected on Wednesday. EY77 from Abu Dhabi to Manchester departed late, while EY75 was scheduled to operate.
EY61 from Abu Dhabi to Heathrow also departed late, while EY63 and EY65 remained scheduled.
Air Arabia services between Sharjah and London Gatwick remained scheduled, although passengers were advised to check their flight status before travelling to the airport because of the continuing uncertainty across the UK network.
NATS response
NATS said the problem had affected its flight data processing system and that safety had not been compromised.
The organisation announced on Tuesday evening that the issue had been resolved and that normal operations had resumed. It subsequently said the recovery was taking longer than hoped because of the complexity of restoring the wider aviation network.
NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe said the organisation had not yet fully established what caused the technical problem.
The incident has prompted renewed scrutiny of Britain's air traffic control infrastructure, coming after previous failures that caused major disruption to passengers.
The latest outage follows a radar-related technical problem in July last year that disrupted flights for more than four hours at major airports in London and elsewhere, including Heathrow.
Britain's most severe recent air traffic control failure occurred in 2023, when a flight-plan processing problem affected more than 700,000 passengers after hundreds of flights were delayed or cancelled.
Airlines demand action
The latest disruption has also triggered criticism from airlines.
Ryanair said around 150,000 of its passengers had been affected by delays of up to eight hours and that it had cancelled more than 200 flights on Tuesday. The airline's chief operating officer, Neal McMahon, called for NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign.
Ryanair has previously criticised NATS over operational failures and said passengers should not continue to bear the consequences of repeated disruptions.
Wizz Air also called for urgent reform of the UK's air traffic control provider, arguing that airlines, airports and passengers should not repeatedly face widespread disruption because of system failures.
Air India also warned that its UK operations had been affected. The airline said the NATS technical fault had forced it to divert, delay or cancel multiple flights to and from UK airports. It added that disruption could affect some other services because aircraft and crew had been left out of position following the incident. Passengers were advised to check the latest flight status before heading to the airport.
#TravelAdvisory
— Air India (@airindia) September 8, 2026
Flights operating to and from airports in the United Kingdom have been impacted by a technical fault at NATS, the UK air traffic control provider. As a result, Air India has been forced to divert, delay or cancel multiple flights scheduled to operate to and from…
The UK's Civil Aviation Authority said it expected NATS to provide a full report on Tuesday's incident. The regulator will then consider whether further action is required to improve the reliability of the country's air traffic control system.
The CAA had already said in 2024 that NATS needed to review its contingency arrangements following the 2023 flight-plan processing failure.
That earlier incident was estimated by airline bosses to have cost carriers more than £100 million ($135.49 million) in refunds and compensation.