Military flight plan triggers UK air-traffic blackout

A military aircraft submitted a spurious flight plan that disrupted the UK’s National Air Traffic Services computer system, triggering a nationwide air-traffic outage that grounded thousands of flights for several hours. The incident prompted crisis calls, a full-system reboot, and investigations by NATS and the Civil Aviation Authority, amid tensions with airlines and scrutiny of NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe. The disruption caused cancellations, diversions to continental airports, and long delays at major hubs like Heathrow, with schedules only slowly recovering in the days that followed. The government has signaled a review to determine the root cause and prevent a repeat, following a prior 2023 outage that was promised never to recur.