Ryanair cancels over 1,000 flights amid UK air traffic disruption

Ryanair has reported the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights in September, attributing the disruption to two major air traffic control failures in the United Kingdom within a two-week period. Additional factors contributing to the cancellations included air traffic controller strikes in Belgium and volcanic ash clouds from Mount Etna.

One significant outage occurred on September 8 due to a system failure at the National Air Traffic Services (NATS), which grounded over 1,300 flights at major UK airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, and Stansted. A separate connectivity issue at the Prestwick centre in Scotland also contributed to the month's disruptions.

In response to the repeated failures, Ryanair’s chief operating officer, Neal McMahon, has called for the resignation of NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe. UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has summoned NATS chairman Sir Warren East for urgent discussions regarding the infrastructure issues. Despite the cancellations, Ryanair carried 20.1 million passengers in September, a 4 per cent increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, Wizz Air reported a 24 per cent rise in passengers but noted plans to reduce capacity later in 2026 due to fuel costs and Middle East conflict pressures.