Flights to and from Luton Airport affected by major UK air traffic control problems

Flights to and from Luton Airport have been affected a major nationwide problem affecting air traffic control in the UK.

While the airport in Bedfordshire was not the worst affected, a technical issue affected by the UK’s air traffic control system NATS has caused problem for flights all over the UK. It is estimated over 2,000 flights to and from British airports were cancelled in the wake of the problem, which began at around 1pm yesterday (08/09).

NATS has since said the fault has been remedied, but that flights would take time to recover to return to their usual schedules.

In a statement, Luton Airport said, “Following yesterday’s technical issue affecting NATS air traffic control, London Luton Airport is open and operational today. However, it is likely that there will be a knock-on impact as airlines work hard to recover their schedules. We advise passengers to check the status of their flight directly with their airline before travelling to the airport. We appreciate how frustrating this situation is and apologise to those affected. We have extra colleagues on hand to support across our terminal.”

The incident was the latest air traffic control system glitch to affect flights, with similar outages reported in August 2023 and July 2025.