Flights halted as Prestwick air traffic control problem disrupts Glasgow travel
Flights at Glasgow Airport were grounded after National Air Traffic Services (NATS) reported a technical fault at its Prestwick centre in Scotland, triggering safety measures that reduced the number of aircraft that could be handled while engineers investigated the problem.
NATS said engineers were on site and mitigation measures had been put in place while a permanent repair was safety tested and deployed. The operator advised passengers to check with their airline for the latest information on their journeys and apologised for the disruption.
"We are investigating a technical issue at our Prestwick centre in Scotland. To maintain safety, air traffic regulations have been applied to manage traffic demand."
The incident is the latest in a string of recent operational problems affecting UK airspace. Around 2,000 flights were cancelled after an earlier NATS issue two weeks ago, and the operator stressed this new fault was unrelated to a separate major system outage in August 2023.
In comments released by NATS management, the fault has been traced to a software problem affecting a limited section of the flight data system. The organisation said the immediate cause was the near-simultaneous arrival of two messages to that part of the system.
"This was a software issue in a specific part of our flight data system, that we have traced to a small subsection of coding... The issue has been identified and mitigation is in place while a permanent fix is safety tested and deployed."
Airport and airline operations were affected as a result of the restrictions on traffic demand. Some flights were cancelled or delayed while controllers and engineers worked to restore normal operations.
Local impact and advice
For travellers in and around Glasgow the immediate effects included:
- Flight cancellations and delays at Glasgow Airport.
- Passengers being advised to contact their airline for up-to-date information.
- Potential knock-on disruption to connecting services, both domestic and international.
Airport staff and airlines typically rebook passengers where possible or provide refunds in line with airline policy; passengers affected in this incident were urged to contact their carriers directly for assistance and to check airport notices before travelling to the terminal.
What NATS has said
The operator described the problem as a discrete software fault constrained to a small subsection of their flight data system. A preliminary technical note from NATS indicated that two messages had been transmitted to that section of the system at the same time, which precipitated the malfunction. Engineers were said to be carrying out on-site work while the necessary safety mitigations remained in force.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Location of fault | Prestwick NATS centre (Scotland) |
| Cause (preliminary) | Software issue in a subsection of the flight data system; two messages received simultaneously |
| Immediate action | Air traffic regulations applied to manage traffic demand; engineers on site |
| Previous disruption | ~2,000 flights cancelled two weeks earlier; unrelated to August 2023 outage |
Local authorities and the airport operator will be monitoring the situation as further technical checks are completed. The incident underscores how centralised control systems for UK air traffic can produce wide-ranging disruption when software faults occur, and it is likely to prompt further scrutiny of contingency arrangements for handling such failures.
Passengers planning travel to or from Glasgow Airport should consult their airline and the airport website for rolling updates, allow extra time for journey planning and expect possible changes to schedules until the permanent fix has been deployed and tested.
