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Delays and Cancellations Persist After Major Disruption at U.K. Airports

An air traffic control failure prompted 1,700 flight cancellations on Tuesday and more than 300 on Wednesday.

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Isabella Kwai reported from London.

Sept. 9, 2026

Hundreds more flights were canceled in Britain on Wednesday, a day after an air traffic control system failed, disrupting more than 2,000 flights and upending the plans of tens of thousands of travelers, particularly at Heathrow Airport.

National Air Traffic Services, a company that provides most of Britain’s air traffic control services, said on Tuesday that there was an issue with one of its flight management computer systems. Its operations had stabilized on Wednesday, the company said, after engineers eventually resolved the technical failure, but passengers were warned that the widespread cancellations and delays would have residual effects.

“It was a pretty depressing experience,” said Jeanette Clement, who had arrived at Heathrow on Tuesday to take a Virgin Atlantic flight to visit a friend in New York. Instead, Ms. Clement waited at the check-in desk for hours before being told her flight was canceled.

The disruptions led to chaotic scenes at airports, including Heathrow, where travelers described hourslong lines, crowded waits for luggage to be returned and uncertainty over where to spend the night after local hotels were quickly booked. At Gatwick Airport, some travelers reported six-hour waits inside grounded aircraft before they were allowed to leave. At London Stansted Airport, some passengers affected by the disruptions slept on the floor.

“I completely understand that major technical problems happen, but being stuck for hours with so little information made an already difficult situation much worse,” Ms. Clement said. Travelers were given little support at the airport, she added. With many airport hotels full, and Uber rides at double their usual price, Ms. Clement said she took a bus home.

Ms. Clement said she was eventually rebooked on to a flight scheduled for Wednesday night but she decided to cancel her trip, fearing more delays would cut into an already short vacation.

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By Isabella Kwai and John Yoon

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