Full list of NI flights delayed and cancelled after ATC technical issue

Flight schedules across Northern Ireland were disrupted on Monday, September 21, 2026, after a technical issue affecting the UK air traffic control network triggered cancellations and extended delays at Belfast International, George Best Belfast City, and City of Derry airports, with knock-on disruption expected to linger through the day.

What happened and why Northern Ireland was hit

Published coverage indicates the disruption was linked to a technical issue at NATS’ Prestwick centre in Scotland, which led to air traffic flow restrictions being applied to manage demand while engineers worked on a fix. Although later reports indicated the issue was resolved, airlines and airports continued to manage the after-effects of aircraft and crew being out of position, creating continued delays and some cancellations on short-haul rotations.

The disruption came less than two weeks after a separate UK-wide NATS systems problem earlier in September, intensifying scrutiny over resilience during high-traffic periods. Reporting on Monday suggested airports in Scotland and Northern Ireland were among the most affected, while airports further south were less impacted.

For travelers in Northern Ireland, the main consequence was uncertainty around morning and early afternoon departures and arrivals on heavily used domestic routes, particularly services connecting Belfast and Londonderry with UK hubs. Even where flights operated, multi-hour revisions to schedules meant onward connections, airport transfers, and same-day returns were at heightened risk.

Full list of affected NI flights reported so far (delays and cancellations)

Flight status can change quickly during an air traffic control event. The following services were listed in published coverage on September 21, 2026 as delayed or cancelled across Northern Ireland airports at the time of reporting, and passengers were advised to re-check directly with their airline before travelling.

At Belfast International Airport, the following arrivals were listed as affected: 08:50 Birmingham easyJet EZY26 delayed to 12:20; 09:25 Newcastle easyJet EZY68 delayed to 12:05; 09:40 Manchester easyJet EZY90 delayed to 12:24; 10:00 Leeds easyJet EZY48 delayed to 12:19; 10:05 London Stansted easyJet EZY36 delayed to 13:21; and 13:45 Palma Jet2.com LS362 delayed to 14:07.

At George Best Belfast City Airport, the following arrivals were listed as affected: 09:00 Manchester easyJet U2721 cancelled; 09:20 London Luton easyJet U2645 delayed to 12:05; 09:20 Edinburgh Aer Lingus EI3651 (also listed under codes BA8973 and QR8109) delayed to 12:00; 09:50 Birmingham Aer Lingus EI3641 (also listed under code BA8893) delayed to 11:45; 10:05 London City British Airways BA8752 (also listed under code EI8352) cancelled; and 10:30 London Heathrow British Airways BA1396 delayed to 13:25.

At City of Derry Airport, published reporting indicated delays on the easyJet service to Edinburgh and the Loganair service to London Heathrow, with additional delays expected on Ryanair’s Manchester service. The same coverage indicated cancellations affecting easyJet’s Liverpool service and Loganair’s Glasgow service.

How widespread was the disruption across the UK and Ireland network?

While Northern Ireland saw prominent impacts, the issue was not isolated to NI. Reporting on Monday described broader disruption across Scotland, Northern England, and Northern Ireland, with Manchester, Belfast International, Edinburgh, and George Best Belfast City among the airports experiencing the most disruption.

Airline statements carried in published coverage pointed to a cascade effect: when air traffic flow restrictions slow departures into or out of busy airspace, aircraft rotations slip, crews time out, and later services face compounding delays. That dynamic can be especially visible on short routes such as Belfast to Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, and London-area airports, where planes are scheduled to complete multiple legs per day.

Travelers flying to or via London may have experienced additional variability depending on destination airport and routing. Even if London-area airports were described as broadly less affected, inbound aircraft and crews arriving late from disrupted northern services can still cause downstream cancellations and schedule changes.

What passengers should do next and what airlines still owe you

During an active ATC disruption, the most practical step is to confirm flight status before leaving for the airport, then monitor airline notifications for gate, boarding, and departure-time changes. Where an airline has already cancelled a flight, passengers typically need to act quickly on rebooking choices, especially on routes with limited same-day frequencies.

For passengers delayed at the airport, UK passenger-rights rules generally require airlines to provide “care and assistance” once delays pass certain thresholds. That support can include meals and refreshments, hotel accommodation where an overnight stay becomes necessary, and transport between the airport and hotel, depending on the situation and the length of the disruption.

Compensation is more complicated when disruption is caused by an air traffic control outage. Publicly available guidance from the UK Civil Aviation Authority following earlier NATS disruption in September noted that such events are likely to be treated as “extraordinary circumstances,” meaning compensation for delay or cancellation is unlikely where the disruption was directly caused by the ATC incident. However, that does not remove the airline’s obligations to provide care and to offer rerouting or refunds when a flight is cancelled.