Ryanair has been forced to cancel more than 1,000 flights in September due to the UK air traffic control system 'collapse'.

The budget airline also partially attributed the axed journeys to air traffic control strikes in Belgium and volcanic activity from Mount Etna in Sicily.

In September alone, the UK's air traffic control system failed twice, causing shockwaves across the aviation industry.

A failure on September 8 led to more than 2,000 flights being cancelled at airports including London Heathrow and Gatwick.

Tens of thousands of passengers were caught up in the travel mayhem, with National Air Traffic Services (NATS) saying it had suffered an issue with its 'flight processing system'.

Just two weeks later, thousands of passengers were left stranded after hundreds of flights were grounded due to a 'connectivity issue' at the NATS offices in Prestwick, Scotland. 

Some 35 flights leaving the UK were cancelled or did not fly – while 37 scheduled to arrive in Britain were axed, according to the aviation analytics firm Cirium.  

NATS confirmed the two incidents were unrelated.

Martin Rolfe, the chief executive of NATS, has faced mounting pressure to step down following the aviation drama.

Ryanair last month called on Mr Rolfe to resign immediately, or for Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander to remove him.

Ryanair's chief operations officer, Neal McMahon, said: 'Just three days after NATS assured airlines and passengers that it had introduced robust 'mitigation plans', its flight data processing system has failed again. 

'Martin Rolfe's report claimed that another failure was 'unlikely' and that NATS could recover more quickly if one occurred. Those claims have been exposed as completely worthless.'

He added: 'How many times must UK passengers suffer disruption before Martin Rolfe is replaced by somebody competent?'

Despite the disruption, the budget carrier has seen traffic grow by 4 per cent to more than 20.1 million guests in September this year.

That stands in comparison to 19.4million for the same month in 2025. The airline operated 111,700 flights in September 2026.

Simon McCulloch, chief growth officer at Staysure, on what affected travellers should know: 'Your airline should be your first port of call. Under UK261 regulations, in the event of a cancellation, you're entitled to a full refund or an alternative flight. 

Depending on the circumstances, your airline may also have obligations to provide assistance during a lengthy delay.

'This kind of disruption may be covered under travel insurance policies, for things like reasonable additional accommodation, transport costs, missed connections, certain expenses caused by a lengthy delay and potentially cancellation/abandonment, depending on the policy wording.

'It's worth checking your policy's definition of 'travel delay', 'missed departure', 'abandonment' or 'travel disruption' as cover levels vary.' 

He also advises you keep receipts for any costs you incur as a result of the delay.

Anton Radchenko, aviation expert and CEO of AirAdvisor, says: 'On compensation, the NATS failure is outside airlines' control, so it is likely to count as extraordinary circumstances. Most directly affected passengers should therefore not expect the usual £220 to £520 payment. 

'However, NATS disruption is not a magic phrase that allows every later cancellation to be rejected automatically. The airline should be able to explain how the incident affected that particular aircraft, crew or route and what reasonable measures it took. If the cancellation was actually caused by a separate operational problem within the airline's control, fixed compensation may still be payable.

'I expect the main disputes from this incident to concern later flights described simply as 'knock-on disruption', as well as replacement travel, hotels and meal expenses. Passengers should therefore treat fixed compensation, rerouting costs and care expenses as separate parts of their claim, which means a rejection of one does not automatically defeat the others.'