UK summons air traffic boss after major outage as flights resume

Passengers wait for news on their flights at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 in London, Britain, on Sep 8, 2026. (Photo: Reuters/Isabel Infantes)

LONDON: Airlines intensified their criticism of Britain's aviation systems on Wednesday (Sep 9) after a major air traffic failure left hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded, while ministers called in the flight control boss to explain the shutdown.

Flights resumed at major airports across the country after the hours-long outage on Tuesday, which resulted in the cancellation of 2,000 flights and ramped up pressure on air traffic control provider NATS and its boss Martin Rolfe.

Ryanair said NATS had told it that the cause of the shutdown was the same problem behind the last major air traffic outage in 2023 which cost airlines 100 million pounds (US$135 million). The carrier has repeatedly called for Rolfe to step down.