Topic Lifecycle: Dormant
This topic is currently dormant in the news cycle. It was last covered on Friday 25 September 2026 and has not appeared in recent broadcasts.
Coverage trend (last 30 days)
How much coverage this topic got from each channel over the past month.
On screen
Stills are sampled automatically at 60-second intervals. Where shown, the still is the nearest available frame from the relevant broadcast segment and is included to show what was on screen during that part of the broadcast. A still may not correspond to the exact second of a quoted phrase.
Recent stories
The latest story timelines linked to this topic, newest activity first.
What was reported
A plain summary of this topic, built from the channels that covered it.
Coverage reported disruption to flights because of a technical issue at the Prestwick air traffic control centre in Scotland. Sky News reported that the disruption affected Scotland and Northern England, and that NATS said it was investigating the issue, had applied air traffic regulations to manage traffic demand for safety, and had engineers on site. Sky News cited NATS as saying the issue was unrelated to technical problems earlier in the month, apologising for disruption, and advising passengers to check with their airline. Channel 4 reported that flights in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England were disrupted for several hours that morning. In its afternoon summary, it said Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander had said engineers fixed the issue at Prestwick and that the disruption was deeply frustrating for passengers. Channel 4 also noted that 2,000 flights had been cancelled earlier in the month because of a separate software issue. The channels agreed that a technical issue at the Prestwick centre in Scotland caused flight disruption. They differed in the areas they listed as affected, with Sky News citing Scotland and Northern England and Channel 4 adding Northern Ireland. Sky News reported the issue as still being investigated, while Channel 4 later reported that it had been fixed, a difference consistent with the different times of their bulletins.
Key Claims by Channel
Tuesday 8 September 2026
| Claim |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Reported by all 2 channels | ||
| NATS experienced a technical issue in its flight processing system. | Reported by Channel 5 | Reported by BBC One |
| Multiple UK airports were affected, including Heathrow and Gatwick. | Reported by Channel 5 | Reported by BBC One |
| Hundreds of flights were cancelled. | Reported by Channel 5 | Reported by BBC One |
| This was the second time since July 2025 that a technical fault at air traffic control caused major disruption. | Reported by Channel 5 | Reported by BBC One |
| Passengers were stuck on planes for hours, including at Heathrow and Bristol. | Reported by Channel 5 | Reported by BBC One |
| Only on one channel | ||
| Some flights were diverted to Paris and Amsterdam. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Reported by BBC One |
| NATS said a fix was in place by late afternoon and the system was starting to recover. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Reported by BBC One |
| The Transport Secretary apologised and advised passengers to check with their airline. | Reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC One |
| A previous major air traffic control failure occurred over the August bank holiday in 2023. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Reported by BBC One |
| Ryanair's boss repeated his call for the head of NATS to resign. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Reported by BBC One |
Wednesday 9 September 2026
| Claim |  | |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reported by a few · 2 channels | |||
| Flights had resumed but knock-on effects continued. | Not reported by BBC News | Reported by BBC One | Reported by Sky News |
| Only on one channel | |||
| A technical problem at NATS caused over 1,000 flight cancellations on the first day of disruption. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Reported by Sky News |
| The NATS issue affected 15 UK airports. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Reported by Sky News |
| NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe apologised and took full responsibility. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Reported by Sky News |
| Martin Rolfe ruled out a cyber attack as the cause. | Not reported by BBC News | Reported by BBC One | Not reported by Sky News |
| Airlines including Ryanair and Wizz Air called for Martin Rolfe to resign. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Reported by Sky News |
| Transport secretary Heidi Alexander was due to meet Martin Rolfe. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Reported by Sky News |
| By the morning of the second day, 246 flights were cancelled at Heathrow and 33 at Gatwick. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Reported by Sky News |
| Passengers were stuck on planes for hours, with some sleeping on airport floors. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Reported by Sky News |
| This was the third summer of mass disruption due to ATC failures. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Reported by Sky News |
Thursday 10 September 2026
| Claim | | |
|---|---|---|
| Reported by all 2 channels | ||
| More than 2,000 flights were cancelled. | Reported by Channel 5 | Reported by Sky News |
| Only on one channel | ||
| More than 330,000 passengers were affected. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Reported by Sky News |
| The Civil Aviation Authority will carry out an independent review. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Reported by Sky News |
| The government gave Nats a week to explain what went wrong. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Reported by Sky News |
| Passengers are unlikely to be entitled to compensation. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Reported by Sky News |
| Martin Rolfe, chief executive of Nats, has faced calls to resign. | Reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by Sky News |
| Flight schedules are returning to normal after severe delays on Tuesday and Wednesday. | Reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by Sky News |
| The technical issue occurred on Tuesday. | Reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by Sky News |
Friday 18 September 2026
| Claim | |  |
|---|---|---|
| Reported by all 2 channels | ||
| NATS published a report into the events that led to widespread passenger disruption. | Reported by Channel 5 | Reported by ITV |
| The disruption affected around 300,000 to 330,000 passengers and over 2,000 flights. | Reported by Channel 5 | Reported by ITV |
| The incident was caused by a software defect that corrupted the system allocating aircraft unique ID codes, and was unrelated to the August 2023 outage. | Reported by Channel 5 | Reported by ITV |
| Only on one channel | ||
| The NATS chief executive dismissed speculation that the incident was caused by military intervention. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Reported by ITV |
| The transport secretary tasked the Civil Aviation Authority with conducting an independent review. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Reported by ITV |
| UK airspace was restricted for six hours while the computer system was restarted. | Reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by ITV |
| Airlines raised questions about why the defect went unnoticed, whether it was preventable, and why a single corrupted data file took down the system. | Reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by ITV |
| The NATS chief executive apologised to passengers affected by the disruption. | Reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by ITV |
Monday 21 September 2026
| Claim | | | |  |  | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reported by a few · 2–5 channels | |||||||
| The transport secretary ordered an independent review by the CAA to report within six months. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by GB News | Reported by ITV | Not reported by Sky News | ||
| Michael O'Leary called for NATS boss Martin Rolfe to resign. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC News | |||||
| NATS said a fresh Prestwick incident was due to a software issue and unrelated to earlier technical problems or the August 2023 outage. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by GB News | |||||
| Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said engineers had fixed the issue at the Prestwick Centre and described the disruption as deeply frustrating for passengers. | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by GB News | Not reported by Sky News | ||||
| Airlines UK said passengers and airlines deserved better after the disruption. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by ITV | Not reported by Sky News | ||
| At least 200 flights were cancelled on the day. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Sky News | ||||
| NATS has had repeated major air traffic control problems, including a second incident within a month and further issues in 2023 and 2025. | Not reported by BBC News | Reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by GB News | Not reported by ITV | Not reported by Sky News | |
| Only on one channel | |||||||
| Air traffic regulations were applied to manage traffic demand and maintain safety. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by GB News | Not reported by ITV | Reported by Sky News |
| NATS apologised for the disruption and delays and advised passengers to check with their airline for the latest information. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by GB News | Not reported by ITV | Reported by Sky News |
| 2,000 flights were cancelled earlier in the month because of a separate software issue. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by GB News | Not reported by ITV | Not reported by Sky News |
| Manchester Airport reported 146 delayed flights and seven cancellations during the morning. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by GB News | Not reported by Sky News | |
| easyJet said the disruption raised questions about NATS's resilience. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by GB News | Not reported by ITV | |
| The Prestwick fault was discovered at around 5:30am. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by GB News | Not reported by ITV | Not reported by Sky News | |
| British Airways and Jet2 criticised the disruption caused by the Prestwick fault. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by GB News | Not reported by Sky News | |
| The Prime Minister's spokesman did not express confidence in Martin Rolfe. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by GB News | Not reported by Sky News | |
| The UK government holds a 49% stake in NATS. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by GB News | Not reported by ITV | Not reported by Sky News | |
| The Prime Minister said the NATS issues were serious and needed to be fully investigated. | Not reported by Channel 5 | Not reported by BBC News | Not reported by BBC One | Not reported by Channel 4 | Not reported by GB News | Reported by ITV | Not reported by Sky News |
This is a cross-channel consensus summary, not an objective account. Consensus can be uniformly wrong, or omit what only one channel covered.
Timeline
Where this topic appeared. Cells show coverage time and are darker when there was more coverage.
| Date | Channel 5 | BBC News | BBC One | BBC Two | Channel 4 | GB News | ITV | Sky News |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday 25 September 2026 | — | — | 1m 48s 1.8% | — | — | — | — | — |
| Wednesday 23 September 2026 | 3m 26s 9.5% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tuesday 22 September 2026 | 2m 49s 7.4% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Monday 21 September 2026 | 2m 34s 6.9% | 1m 35s 1.3% | 15m 18s 15.4% | — | 3m 7s 6.2% | 1m 1.3% | 19m 32s 23.4% | 1m 42s 1.8% |
| Friday 18 September 2026 | 4m 20s 17.4% | — | 2m 59s 3.1% | — | — | — | 6m 48s 8.3% | — |
| Thursday 10 September 2026 | 16s 0.7% | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1m 8s 1.2% |
| Wednesday 9 September 2026 | 4m 11s 14.5% | 5m 2s 5.0% | 20m 37s 20.4% | — | — | — | 5m 13s 4.2% | 7m 10s 7.2% |
| Tuesday 8 September 2026 | 11m 40s 39.3% | — | 6m 15s 7.2% | 4m 28s 6.3% | 2m 34s 4.9% | — | 2m 43s 3.2% | 7m 12s 6.7% |