The technology behind the air traffic control failure that grounded flights at Heathrow earlier this month could become impossible to repair after 2030, according to reports published this weekend, as the Nats chief executive fights to keep his job.
The National Airspace System (Nas), the decades-old central flight processor that manages every aircraft crossing UK skies, is due to become "unsupported" from 2030, meaning there would be no guarantee it could be fixed if it failed again, The Times reported on Saturday. "If it works, fine, but when it breaks, it's gone," a Nats insider told the paper, comparing the risk to owning equipment whose manufacturer no longer exists.
GB News, citing the same reporting, said on Sunday that Nats chief executive Martin Rolfe is required to deliver preliminary findings from an internal investigation into the 8 September outage to regulators this week. That fault triggered more than 2,000 flight cancellations across the UK, including days of delays and cancellations at Heathrow, and has already prompted a separate independent review by the Civil Aviation Authority ordered by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander.
Rolfe has led Nats, which is 49% owned by the taxpayer, since 2015 and has faced calls to resign after the organisation's third major IT collapse in three years. A Whitehall source told GB News "the buck stops with him," although other industry figures cautioned that removing Rolfe alone would not fix the deeper problem: a replacement system, originally due to launch in 2015, has been repeatedly delayed and now has no confirmed date, with some insiders suggesting it may not arrive until well into the 2030s.
Nats has pushed back on the "unfixable" characterisation. A spokesperson said the organisation has "comprehensive plans to ensure our systems remain safe and appropriately supported for as long as they are required," and pointed to more than £1 billion spent on technology investment over the past decade.
For Heathrow passengers, the immediate practical risk is the same one seen on 8 September: a Nats-wide fault can ground flights nationally with little warning, regardless of local conditions at the airport. If you are travelling in the coming weeks, build in extra contingency time and keep an eye on your airline's app for live updates.
What this means for your journey: if a wider air traffic fault disrupts your flight, having a flexible way to reach or leave the airport matters more than usual. See our guide to taxis at Heathrow (https://heathrowairportguide.pages.dev/taxis/) for options if your plans change at short notice.