The UK Civil Aviation Authority will examine the leadership of National Air Traffic Services (NATS) as part of an independent review into the September 8, 2026 system failure that disrupted more than 2,000 flights.

The regulator published its 11-page terms of reference on September 25, 2026, covering NATS' technology renewal strategy, the implementation of prior recommendations, the effectiveness of CAA oversight, and international best practice. An additional technical incident at the NATS Prestwick centre on September 21, 2026, falls within the review's scope.

What triggered the review?

The September 8 outage struck the National Airspace System (NAS), the software backbone used to manage UK controlled airspace. According to NATS' own preliminary report of September 18, 2026, the cause was "a software defect in a small part of the National Airspace System."

NATS CEO Martin Rolfe said: "This was a software issue in a specific part of our flight data system, that we have traced to a small subsection of coding. The issue has been identified and mitigation is in place while a permanent fix is safety tested and deployed."

The disruption forced widespread delays, cancellations and diversions across UK airports. Ryanair's Michael O'Leary moved quickly. On September 9, 2026, the airline said Rolfe "should be sacked and replaced with someone competent to run the UK ATC system and to prevent repeated collapses of UK ATC and its non-existent back-up systems."

What will the inquiry actually assess?

The CAA review will determine whether NATS has "a credible, appropriately governed and deliverable approach to the renewal of critical air traffic management infrastructure," according to the published document. It will also judge whether the provider "possesses the organizational capability, capacity and leadership necessary to deliver and sustain the changes required to support resilient, reliable and sustainable UK air traffic management over the coming decade."

Four workstreams are explicit in the terms of reference:

• NATS' strategy and plans for renewal, replacement and modernization of critical operational systems, including business continuity arrangements for existing infrastructure
• Implementation status of recommendations from previous reviews
• The effectiveness of the CAA's own regulatory oversight
• Lessons drawn from international best practice on resilience and recovery from major disruption

Who runs the review, and when does it report?

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander ordered the review. An "independent challenge panel," whose members will be appointed by the CAA and approved by the Secretary of State, will supply expert scrutiny.

The panel delivers an initial report to Alexander by the end of January 2027. The final report is due March 8, 2027.

What changes for airlines and passengers?

For the moment, nothing operationally. NATS has implemented a mitigation while it safety-tests a permanent software fix. The September 21 Prestwick incident, framed by NATS as a separate "technical issue," shows the review is not retrospective housekeeping alone; it will assess whether the UK system can absorb future shocks of comparable scale.

Capacity and schedule planning across UK airports, already fragile during peak periods, now carries an additional risk premium until the panel reports whether the current organizational setup can deliver the modernization NATS has promised.

The inquiry's conclusion in March 2027 will determine whether the UK's air traffic management backbone can be trusted to handle traffic growth over the next decade.