Developing — Wednesday 9 September: Knock-on delays are still expected this morning after a technical fault in the UK air traffic control flight processing system disrupted departures across Britain and Ireland on Tuesday. Dublin Airport was among those warning passengers; Cork also reported delays.
NATS — which manages most UK airspace — said airspace stayed open but the network was constrained while engineers worked on a flight processing fault. Recovery took longer than hoped. CEO Martin Rolfe has apologised and said an investigation is under way. NATS has said this is not the same fault as the August 2023 bank-holiday outage.
What we know so far
Confirmed: The issue sat in NATS’s flight data/processing system on Tuesday afternoon. Some flights still left, but the backlog built quickly. Overnight, NATS said the system issue itself had been fixed and it was working with airlines and airports on recovery — while warning the wider network would take time to settle into Wednesday.
Attributed scale (not Love Dublin counts): Flight-tracking site FlightRadar24 estimated up to around 1,000 cancellations. EasyJet reported around 200 cancellations; British Airways said more than 100 flights were cancelled or diverted on Tuesday afternoon. Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers faced delays of up to eight hours. We are not inventing separate Dublin or Cork cancellation totals beyond airport passenger warnings.
What Dublin and Cork travellers should do
- Check your airline app or website before leaving for the airport — status can still change as aircraft and crews reposition.
- Build in extra time at Dublin Airport and Cork Airport.
- If British Airways cancelled your flight, the airline told affected passengers not to go to the airport.
- Connections via Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester or East Midlands may still carry knock-on delay.
- Official NATS updates: nats.aero and @NATS.
Airport boards: Dublin Airport flight information · Cork Airport flights.
The essentials
What: NATS flight-processing fault (Tue 8 Sep) — knock-on into Wed 9 Sep
Ireland: Dublin + Cork delays reported
Do: Check airline first — then travel
NATS: Official update
Wider picture
In Northern Ireland, Belfast City Airport flagged disruption to arrivals and departures; both Belfast airports told travellers to check live flight information. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander urged passengers to check with airlines and said she was due to meet Rolfe on Wednesday.
Belfast guide on our sister site: NATS disruption — Belfast airports.
Confirmed: NATS system fault Tuesday; apology from Rolfe; investigation; knock-on delays expected Wednesday. Still developing: how quickly Dublin and Cork schedules normalise. Check the airline first — then travel.
