Technical Fault at Prestwick Centre Disrupts Flights Across Northern UK
A technical problem at NATS' Prestwick control centre is causing flight delays across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England.
Flights to and from Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England are experiencing disruption after a technical fault was identified at an air traffic control facility in Scotland.
NATS, the company formerly known as National Air Traffic Services, said its engineers are continuing to investigate the problem at its Prestwick centre. The organisation said airports south of Manchester, including those serving London, are "broadly unaffected", although services heading north and departures from Scottish airports are facing delays.
NATS stated that the disruption is not connected to the software glitch that forced the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights in and out of the United Kingdom two weeks ago.
The latest incident drew criticism from easyJet, which said the disruption "once again, calls into question the resilience of NATS' systems and demonstrates the need for firm actions to prevent these repeated failures."
The investigation at Prestwick is ongoing, and passengers travelling to or from the affected regions have been advised to expect delays.