NATS publishes preliminary report on technical incident of 8 September
Recorded: Sept. 18, 2026, 3:08 p.m.
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NATS publishes preliminary report on technical incident of 8 September - NATS
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Share Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Copy link to clipboard Home NATS publishes preliminary report on technical incident of 8 September NATS, the UK’s major provider of air traffic services, has today published a preliminary report into the events which led to widespread disruption to travellers earlier this month. Read the preliminary report here Media Centre NATS Press Office Share Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Copy link to clipboard HomeNewsNATS publishes preliminary report on technical incident of 8 September Top UK Flights - - - - Press releases NATS publishes preliminary report on technical incident of 8 September Air Traffic Control overlooked as career option by 1 in 4 jobseekers
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NATS, the UK’s principal provider of air traffic services, released a preliminary report concerning a technical incident that caused widespread disruption to travelers earlier in September. This initial report was commissioned by Heidi Alexander, the Secretary of State for Transport. Martin Rolfe, the Chief Executive Officer, stated that the incident was not related to the major system outage that occurred in August 2023, nor was it caused by military intervention. Rolfe further explained that the root cause was identified as a software defect within a small segment of the National Airspace System (NAS), which is fundamental to managing UK airspace. The specific mechanism of the failure involved the system's handling of aircraft codes. These codes are used to identify flights on radar when manual requests are made, although they are usually allocated automatically. The software defect manifested when a system received a message for a higher priority activity while processing an aircraft code request, causing the request to pause. When processing resumed, the defect resulted in corrupted output and incorrect subsequent flight data updates, which occurred within a fractional amount of a millisecond. Due to the reduced information available to air traffic controllers, safety restrictions were immediately implemented to manage air traffic flow. Although the software issue was localized to the London Area Control centre, affecting higher level flights operating above 24,500 feet, these restrictions had to be extended across the entire United Kingdom to facilitate the restart of the NAS and the reloading of flight data. These restrictions remained in place for approximately six hours. Following the restoration of normal NATS operations that evening, it took more than two days to fully clear the backlog of passenger disruptions. Mr Rolfe apologized to all affected parties, emphasizing that while the disruption was significant, safety was never compromised during the event. NATS highlighted its commitment to technological advancement and safety, noting that over the last decade, the organization has invested more than one billion pounds in systems and technology, and plans to submit proposals to the Civil Aviation Authority for an additional billion pounds in investment by the end of 2033. The incident underscores the critical nature of the complex digital infrastructure that underpins air traffic control and the importance of maintaining system reliability for public safety. |