'We're sorry': Under fire NATS apologises after hundreds of flights grounded following second air traffic control failure in a month

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The National Air Traffic Services [NATS] has issued an apology after thousands of passengers experienced issues causing delays and disruption again on Monday.

It has emerged that the Flight Data Processing System (FDPS) failure at Prestwick Centre' is restricting the capacity of Scottish-controlled airspace by 60%.

Glasgow Airport has been "primarily affected", where delays up to a few hours are being seen alongside Edinburgh.

Around 200 flights are believed to have been cancelled, aviation analytics company Cirium said.

Read more: EasyJet boss says Nats has ‘let down customers all summer’

Read more: Air traffic control boss on £1.5m a year faces intense pressure to resign after latest flights chaos

In an updated statement to LBC, a NATS spokesperson said that the issue has been fixed, but knock-on delays are still to be expected throughout the day.

Journeys "north of Manchester" are being affected and passengers are being advised to check with their airlines for updates on their flights.

An official NATS statement read: "The issue in our Prestwick centre is now fixed.

"We are working with airports and airlines to safely lift air traffic regulations as quickly as we can to minimise any further disruption.

The technical glitch left much of the travel industry demanding "answers” after the latest Nats error.

Luke Petherbridge, director of public affairs for travel trade organisation Abta, said: “This is the second Nats incident to cause disruption in the last fortnight, and fourth in recent years. It’s simply not good enough.

"The industry and travelling public will want answers – not only on what has gone wrong, but critically how the system is going to be made more resilient to avoid future outages.

“These incidents cause inconvenience to travellers and significant financial costs for airlines and the wider travel industry, including additional work and costs for Abta’s tour operator and travel agent members.

“As these Nats issues are entirely outside of travel companies’ control, the Government should seriously consider whether Nats should be made to compensate the wider industry for such events.”

Gordon Dewar, CEO of Edinburgh Airport, told LBC's Rebecca Brady: "It is deeply frustrating because here we are again, the second time in a few weeks, with quite significant disruption.

"So what that's meant is we've picked up delays and there is just not enough slots in the sky to get here.

"We are going to pick up disruption when our arriving aircraft can't go in the stand we originally provided, so we're going to have disappointed consumers, frustrated airlines, and a huge cost to the industry of these sorts of failures."

"Passengers should still check the status of their flight with their airline. We apologise for the disruption."

One passenger Matthew was forced to wait hours after boarding his London to Edinburgh flight.

He told LBC: "The pilot came out and he was like 'sorry, mate but it's got some bad news for you guys'.

"Half the plane disembarked and decided to catch a train. So it wasn't ideal, particularly when, you know, you sort of get up early and you're looking forward to a nice trip to Edinburgh.

"It's just extremely inconvenient. It's one of those things if you have an idea and I feel like they sort of knew that it was going to be an issue, then you sort of could have hung out a little bit and/or made other arrangements."

A spokesperson for the Glasgow and Aberdeen airport operator AGS said: "A technical issue affecting NATS air traffic control services at the Prestwick Centre is causing disruption to some flight departures and arrivals.

"As a result, some services operating to and from our airports are experiencing delays, primarily at Glasgow Airport, and further disruption is expected due to the knock-on impact across the network.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused to passengers. This is the second time in as many weeks that a NATS technical issue has had a significant impact on services operating through our airports, and we fully appreciate the frustration this will cause those whose travel plans have been disrupted.

"We advise passengers to check with their airline for the latest flight information before travelling."

It comes just two weeks after 2,000 flights were cancelled at UK airports due to a NATS software defect, which led to days of disruption, costing airlines millions of pounds.

A spokesperson for Edinburgh Airport told LBC: "We are experiencing some delays due to the NATS issue at Prestwick Centre.

"We are monitoring the situation closely and are working with NATS as they work to resolve the issue.

"Passengers should check with their airline for the latest information on their flight."

One stranded passenger wrote on X: "NATS system fails again Sat on a Jet2 plane at LBA-Leeds with no prospect of take off."

A Manchester Airport statement read: "An air traffic control system operated by NATS has been affected by a technical issue causing delays to flights from some UK airports.

"Passengers due to travel today are advised to keep an eye out for updates from their airlines."

Glasgow Airport said it is expecting a" knock-on impact across the network", while London City Airport said it was also "experiencing some disruption due to an issue at NATS Prestwick".

Bristol said it was also experiencing some issues.

The delay is the latest major outage comes after over 2,000 flights were cancelled and 330,000 passengers affected because of the four-hour failure of Nats’ flight data system at its headquarters in Swanwick, Hampshire.

A preliminary report into the incident on September 8 was released by NATS on Friday, who said that the issue was not caused by any "incorrect actions".

The fault caused flights both in and out of the UK to be axed, impacting hundreds of thousands of passengers.

NATS' chief Martin Rolfe, who earned £1.5m last year, has faced pressure to resign following the blunders.

A Ryanair spokesperson said on Monday: "Ryanair today today called on failed NATS CEO Martin Rolfe to resign immediately, or for Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander to remove him, after yet another NATS flight data processing system at Prestwick failed again this morning, less than two weeks after the same system collapsed in NATS’ London Centre on 8 Sept and disrupted more than 2,000 flights across the UK and Europe."