UK flight disruption hits Scotland and north after NATS Prestwick fault

A technical issue disrupted flights in parts of the UK on Monday, affecting services in and out of Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England. The problem was the latest setback for NATS, the country's national air traffic controller, and led to cancellations and delays.

NATS said the issue at its Prestwick centre in Scotland had been fixed, but warned that the impact would continue through the day at the very least. It said airports south of Manchester, including those serving London, were "broadly unaffected".

In a statement, NATS said, "We are working with airports and airlines to safely lift air traffic regulations as quickly as we can to minimise any further disruption. We apologise for the disruption." It also said the latest disruption was unconnected to the software glitch two weeks ago that caused more than 2,000 flights to be cancelled in and out of the United Kingdom.

That earlier chaos had prompted growing calls for NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe to step down. Reacting to the latest disruption, EasyJet said it "once again, calls into question the resilience of NATS' systems and demonstrates the need for firm actions to prevent these repeated failures". British Airways said it was "disappointing" that some customers could face disruption after "yet another technical fault" involving NATS.

The UK government owns 49 per cent of NATS, making it the largest shareholder and giving it a veto over key decisions, while airlines, airports, investors and employees hold the remaining shares. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said, "I know this will be deeply frustrating for passengers after the previous issue," as flights in affected parts of the UK continued to face disruption.