Flights to and from Luton Airport were affected earlier today (30/07) after a nationwide air traffic control problem.

A national failure of the UK’s air traffic control system occurred for 20 minutes at around 4pm UK time, causing disruption to flights across the UK.

Nats, the company which runs the UK’s air traffic control system, confirmed an issue had affected their centre in Swanwick in Hampshire, but that the system was restored by 5pm.

It is understood this is not viewed as a hacking incident by UK National Cyber Security Centre.

A similar incident was reported in August 2023, with a further incident affected the site having previously happened in December 2014.

The issue was also recorded during the busy summer holiday period, with schools having recently broken up and airports experiencing peak traffic.

Luton Airport said that some flights were affected by the disruption, but in a statement just before 5pm, they confirmed flights had begun running once more.

In a statement, they said, “This was a national issue impacting departures across the UK, flights have now resumed but we recommend passengers check with airlines,”

In a statement, easyJet said, “An earlier technical issue at the NATS air traffic control centre today has been causing disruption to flights to and from the UK.

“We are advising customers travelling this evening to check our Flight Tracker for the most up to date information on their flight and are contacting all impacted customers directly.

“While this is outside of our control, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused by the ATC [air traffic control] failure.”