What's happened
The Prestwick air traffic control centre is experiencing a technical issue, with engineers from National Air Traffic Services investigating. Flights to and from Scottish airports are delayed or cancelled, while Manchester-area services remain largely unaffected. Airlines and travellers are advised to check with carriers for updates.
What's behind the headline?
Analysis
- The situation is unfolding in real time and is likely to influence passenger decisions in the short term.
- Public communications from Nats emphasise ongoing engineering work, indicating the issue is active and not resolved.
- This update should be read as part of a developing story, with travellers urged to monitor airline notices.
Key points to watch
- Engineering are investigating at the Prestwick centre.
- Flights heading north or departing Scotland are experiencing delays.
- Comparisons with the prior two-week outage may shape public perception of systemic risk in UK air traffic control.
How we got here
A technical issue at the Prestwick centre, which handles air traffic control for Scotland and northern England, is disrupting flight schedules across Scotland’s airports. This follows a separate outage two weeks ago that affected thousands of flights. Highlands and Islands Airports Limited reports disruption across Dundee, Inverness and Islay as schedules are impacted.
Our analysis
BBC Business, The Scotsman, The Scotsman (Amy Watson), The Scotsman (David Hepburn) quote excerpts: "Our engineers are continuing to investigate the issue at the Prestwick centre"; "airports south of Manchester are broadly unaffected"; "passengers should check with their airlines"; "this is unrelated to the issue two weeks ago".
Go deeper
- What flights are most affected today?
- Should travellers rebook or seek refunds now?
- Will the disruption affect holidays or business travel this week?
More on these topics
-
Scotland - Country of the United Kingdom
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a 96 mile border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and w
-
Dundee - City in Scotland
Dundee is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2018 was 148,750, giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km² or 6,420/sq mi, the second-highest in Scotland
-
Manchester - City in England
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. It has a population of 547,627 as of 2018. It lies within the United Kingdom's second-most populous urban area, with a population of 2.5 million and third-most populous metropol
-
Edinburgh - Capital of Scotland
Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian, it is located in Lothian on the Firth of Forth's southern shore.
-
United Kingdom - Country in Europe
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country located off the northwestern coast of the European mainland.
-
Islay - Island in Scotland
Islay is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll just south west of Jura and around 40 kilometres north of the Northern Irish coast.
-
Inverness - City in Scotland
Inverness is a cathedral city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Historically it served as the county town of the county of Inverness-shire.
-
NATS - Wikimedia disambiguation page
Nats or NATS may refer to:
-
Ryanair - Airline
Ryanair DAC is an Irish budget airline founded in 1984, headquartered in Swords, Dublin, with its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports.
-
Edinburgh Airport - Airport in Scotland
Edinburgh Airport is an airport located in the Ingliston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2019, handling over 14.7 million passengers.
-
Glasgow Airport - International airport in Scotland, UK
Glasgow Airport, also known as Glasgow International Airport (IATA: GLA, ICAO: EGPF), and formerly Abbotsinch Airport, is an international airport located in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, 7 miles (11 km) west of Glasgow. In 2024 it handled 8.06 million passengers, a 9.6 per cent annual increase, making it the second-busiest in Scotland, after Edinburgh Airport, and the ninth-busiest in the United Kingdom. It is owned and operated by AGS Airports, which also owns and operates Aberdeen and Southampton airports. It was previously owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings (formerly known as BAA). Loganair are headquartered at the airport and have a maintenance hangar here. easyJet, Jet2.com and TUI Airways also use Glasgow as a hub. It was opened in 1966 and originally flights only operated to other places in the UK and Europe. It began to offer flights to elsewhere — flights that previously used Glasgow Prestwick Airport, which was subsequently relegated as the city's secondary airport catering for Ryanair and freight operators.